KATHMANDU, Sept 22: Chairman of Rastriya Prajatantra Party - Nepal (RPP-N) and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the erstwhile KP Oli government, Kamal Thapa is one of those few and far between Nepali politicians who openly speak about what they call India’s increasing ‘interference’ in Nepal. The support that Thapa had provided to the Oli government was no less than that of any leader or minister from Oli’s own party, the CPN (UML).
The Nagarik Show team asked Thapa for some time for an interview while Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was still in India on his four-day visit to the southern neighbor. He agreed.
But Thapa who is one of the few politicians in Nepal who keep the ‘diplomatic decorum’ in mind, later called us and said, “It would not be appropriate for a responsible leader to talk negatively about the visit while the Prime Minister is still outside. So, let’s meet after the Prime Minister returns home.”
No relevance of PM’s India visit: Thapa
In an interview taken after PM Dahal returned home, Thapa not only termed the PM’s visit as “irrelevant and insignificant” but also went on to say that the visit has “increased the risks and has disturbed the balance [of India-Nepal relations].”
Thapa who says he is still committed to the agenda of a Hindu state and constitutional monarchy claims that Indian interference in Nepal has increased after the restoration of multi-party democracy in Nepal in 1990. His conclusion is: The tendency of Nepali politicians seeking “Indian blessings to rise to power and remain there” has dramatically increased after the restoration of multi-party democracy. He calls it Nepali politicians’ and political parties’ “self-defeatism.”
“Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s India visit is a result of the same surrendered attitude,” he said, “He had gone to India to say ‘I have made many mistakes, I beg to be forgiven.’”
Thapa argues that though the British left India a long time ago, the remnants of ‘British expansionism’ are still in India.
In this episode of Nagarik show, Thapa has also ‘revealed’ how PM Dahal gradually fell under the Indian influence.
Find Thapa’s answers to questions like ‘what is India’s real motive in Nepal? What are the risks created by PM Dahal’s recent India visit? How are India’s relations with the current Dahal-led government different from those with the erstwhile Oli government?’ in this episode of Nagarik show.
