New Delhi: India on Saturday termed as untenable the "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims by Nepal after its lower house of parliament unanimously approved a new political map of the country featuring areas which India maintains belong to it.
In a sharp reaction, India said Nepal's action violates an understanding reached between the two countries to resolve the boundary issues through talks. The House of Representatives or lower house of the Nepalese parliament unanimously passed the constitution amendment bill providing for inclusion of the country's new political map in its national emblem.
The Nepalese parliament's overwhelming support to approve the proposed legislation is seen as a huge snub to India as it signalled the political consensus in Nepal in toughening its stance on the border dispute with New Delhi.
"We have noted that the House of Representatives of Nepal has passed a Constitution amendment bill for changing the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian territory. We have already made our position clear on this matter," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said. "This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues," he said.
The Nepalese government under the leadership of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli went ahead with the vote disregarding the strong opposition to the move by India which, for decades, has maintained friendly relations with the Himalayan nation.
In a show of unprecedented national unity, opposition parties including the Nepali Congress (NC), Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) too voted in favour of the new map laying claim over the strategically key areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura along the border with India.
It is learnt that India had reached out to several political parties including the Nepali Congress but it did not yield any result. The assessment in New Delhi has been that Nepal went ahead with the new map following strong support by China to the Nepal Communist Party government headed by Prime Minister Oli.
The bill will have to be cleared by Nepal's National Assembly, the upper house of parliament, and then approved by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari before it becomes a law. The ties between the two countries came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8.
Nepal protested the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through its territory. Days later, Nepal came out with the new map showing Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its territories. India too had published a new map in November 2019 showing the areas as its territories.
After Nepal released the map, India reacted sharply, calling it an "unilateral act" and cautioning Kathmandu that such "artificial enlargement" of territorial claims will not be acceptable to it. "This unilateral act is not based on historical facts and evidence. It is contrary to the bilateral understanding to resolve the outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue. Such artificial enlargement of territorial claims will not be accepted by India," the MEA said last month.
In the midst of the row, Army Chief Gen M M Naravane said that there were reasons to believe that Nepal objected to the road at the behest of "someone else", in an apparent reference to a possible role by China in the matter. The comments triggered angry reactions from Nepal.
The Lipulekh pass is a far western point near Kalapani, a disputed border area between Nepal and India. Both India and Nepal claim Kalapani as an integral part of their territory - India as part of Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district and Nepal as part of Dharchula district. Nepalese Prime Minister Oli has been asserting that Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura belong to his country and vowed to "reclaim" them from India.
