S Jaishankar appointed special envoy to Nepal

Amid the emerging conflict in Nepal over the newlyadopted constitution, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to send foreign secretary S Jaishankar to Kathmandu on Friday as his special envoy.

Jaishankaris expected to convey to the Nepali leadership India’s disappointment over not displaying the required flexibility for a broadbased constitution. He will also urge the government to accommodate concerns of the people in the Tarai across the open border. The region has been paralysed for three weeks due to protests; over 40 people have been killed. Kathmandu’s leaders have also played up the perception that India is somehow behind the unrest. Delhi is furious at the suggestion, and will clearly tell Kathmandu to refrain from stoking anti Indianism.

The constitution is to be promulgated on Sunday.

There is growing concern in the governmentthatwhiletheconstitutionshouldhavebeenatremendous achievement, it sowed seeds of conflict and radicalism in the Tarai. Modi is said to be worried about the implications of the unrest on the upcoming Bihar polls. After a prolonged political transition, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution on Wednesday. This formally institutionalised republicanism, secularism, democracy, and federalism as new political principles. But Tarai parties have demanded provisions for proportionate inclusion of underrepresented groups in state organs and revision in federal boundaries. Jaishankar is expected to raise all three issues and ask Kathmandu’s leaders to integrate them in a political settlement.