5-10 people cannot impose a constitution, Modi tells Nepal
India PM called for ‘widest possible consultation’
Expressing grief at the loss of lives in Nepal violence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told his Nepali counterpart Sushil Koirala that “five to ten people” cannot “sit in a room” and impose a constitution and called for greater inclusion in the process.
In Kailali district, violence broke out on Monday when Tharu protestors turned aggressive. Seven police officials are reported killed. On Tuesday, one protestor died in police firing in Rautahat. Nepal has been witnessing protests over the shape of the federal map, with excluded social groups in the plains bordering India agitating for boundaries that would empower them.
Top sources from Kathmandu told HT what PM Modi felt particularly on the violence, given his known affinity from Nepal. But he also called for restraint and said there must be the ‘widest possible consultation’ as Nepal finalises its constitution.
Modi is understood to have told Koirala: “Five to ten people cannot sit in a room and write the constitution. All parties and forces should sit together. There must be greater dialogue.”
An MEA statement said that Modi had asked Nepal’s political leadership to ‘arrive at a solution which accommodated the aspirations of all citizens of a richly diverse society within a united, peaceful, stable and prosperous Nepal’.
Nepal’s home minister Bamdev Gautam indicated in Parliament on Monday that people ‘from the south’ were responsible for the incident.
According to sources, Modi made it clear that it was inappropriate for Nepal’s leadership to drag in India and this would not help matters—it was also Nepal’s domestic issue. Given the open border though, India ‘would do all it can for security in Nepal’. The Indian ambassador in Kathmandu, Ranjit Rae, also met Gautam and conveyed concern about ‘unsubstantiated statements’ that could ‘cause misunderstandings’.
After HT broke the story online on Tuesday afternoon, PM Koirala’s foreign policy advisor, Dinesh Bhattarai, denied the contents of the conversation in the local media. Other Kathmandu sources however maintained that Modi had indeed conveyed the above message.