Why Nepal's new currency note is a fresh jolt to ties with India
The development threatens to sour bilateral ties unless both countries engage in dialogue to find an amicable solution. Indians and Nepalese have had age-old ‘roti-beti’ tiesâa reference to close familial/marriage relationships. However, the Kalapani-Limpiyadhura-Lipulekh border tri-junction between India, Nepal and China has remained a sore point. Nepal shares over 1,850 km of border with five Indian statesâSikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Kathmandu’s decision on the bank notes has evoked a sharp response from the Indian government, with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar asserting that Nepal’s ‘unilateral’ move won’t change the status quo or ground reality of the territories in question. “With Nepal, we are having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform,” Jaishankar said. “In the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side.”
Observers say China’s growing role in Nepal is increasingly influencing the Himalayan nation’s policies. Nepal has joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also referred to as the New Silk Road, a 10-year-old project initiated for building land and sea infrastructure through multiple countries. Nepal and China signed the BRI framework agreement in May 2017, but so far no projects have been negotiated or executed.
India had, in November 2019, released a political map that depicted Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as its territories. Nepal protested the inclusion, claiming these areas were part of Nepal on the basis of the 1816 Sugauli Treaty. The treaty was inked between British India and Nepal after the Anglo-Nepal War. Kathmandu said that as per the treaty, “all territories east of the Kali (Mahakali) river, including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh, belonged to Nepal”.
The 35 sq. km Kalapani area is located in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, which shares a porous 80 km border with Nepal. Kathmandu claims that Kalapani is part of its Sudurpaschim province. However, Indian official sources maintained the Nepalese territorial claims were incompatible with the Sugauli Treaty.
Following India’s new political map of 2019, defence minister Rajnath Singh had, in May 2020, inaugurated a high-altitude, 80-km-long road to facilitate pilgrims visiting the Kailash Mansarovar in Chinese-controlled Tibet. The high-altitude road from Dharchula to Lipulekh Pass (both in Uttarakhand) has reduced the journey time to Kailash Mansarovar. The other two roads to the shrine are via Sikkim and Nepal.
The new road, built by the Border Roads Organisation, from Ghatiabgarh to Lipulekh is just 5 km short of the Line of Actual Control, the de factor border with China. The road, constructed under directions of the Indian government’s China Study Group, was funded as part of the Indo-China Border Roads project. Using the new route, pilgrims to Mansarovar traverse 84 per cent of their land journey on Indian roads and only 16 per cent in China.
Subsequently, Nepal launched a strong protest and condemned India’s “unilateral act” and said it “runs against the understanding reached between the two countries” and called for a solution to boundary issues through negotiations.
The Indian side too had reacted sharply to Kathmandu’s objection to the strategic link road, with then army chief General M.M. Naravane saying Nepal’s objection could be at the “behest of someone else”. “There are issues about where the tri-junction should be. They may have raised the issue at the behest of someone else,” Naravane said. The comment seemed aimed at China. The issue remained tense even when the Indian military was engaged in a fierce face-off with China in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan region.
In August 2020, the Nepalese Parliament’s House of Representatives had unanimously adopted the Constitution Amendment Bill on the new Nepalese map that shows Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipulekh as part of Nepal. In May 2022, Nepal reiterated its stand by requesting the Indian government to stop unilateral construction/expansion of any road that goes via Nepalese territory. This was after New Delhi extended a road to Lipulekh and said there were plans for further expansion.
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