RSS wants govt to work on improving ties with Nepal
NEW DELHI : The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has expressed concern over the strain in ties between India and Nepal, the only Hindu kingdom in the world, and wants New Delhi to focus on rebuilding ties with Kathmandu, those familiar with the matter said.
The ideological fount of the BJP, the RSS, has backed India’s response to China following the violent face-off between the armies of the two sides in Ladakh on June 15. Both issues were discussed at a meeting between the RSS brass and the BJP leadership earlier this week in New Delhi, the people cited above added.
RSS leaders present at the meeting, the people said, expressed concern that the government and the intelligence agencies were blindsided by developments in the neighbourhood and were worried at the deterioration in Indo-nepal ties.
“The meeting was chaired by the RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi and attended by RSS leaders, BJP president JP Nadda and general secretary BL Santhosh was called to assess the situation brewing on the borders,” said one of the people.
He said the meeting discussed the possibility of opponents of the Citizenship Amendment Act launching another “Shaheen Bagh like protest” after the pandemic dies out.
While the RSS has always advocated a muscular foreign policy to deal with Pakistan and China; it is concerned that India and Nepal have not been able to resolve issues through dialogue.
Earlier this month Nepal’s Lower House of Parliament passed an amendment bill revising the Coat of Arms and amending the country’s map to incorporate Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas, traditionally claimed by India.
The RSS leadership has weighed in favour of revisiting trade ties with China; and after the clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, there is a campaign to push the government to reset trade links. But as far as Nepal is concerned, the Sangh wants the emphasis on people-to-people ties.
“What started off as internal politics in Nepal has taken the shape of acrimony (between the two sides). There is a sense (in the RSS) that the bureaucracy took precedence over political engagement, which resulted in slip ups ,” said a second person familiar with the meeting happenings.
Sanjay Kumar of the Centre for Developing Studies said the RSS’S push for better relations with Nepal stems from the ideological similarities between the two countries. “There is an ideological connect between the Sangh and Nepal, a Hindu nation. Also, amending ties with them is easier than doing so with China.”