Indo-Nepal Relations: The Blind Spots of South Asian Diplomacy

When Vinod Mehta, a veteran journalist, writer and then editor of Outlook joined a panel discussion at the Ncell Literature Festival in Kathmandu in 2012, a Nepali journalist asked him about Indian media바카라�s poor and perhaps inaccurate coverage of Nepal. Mehta, who is known for his humour and his sarcastic writing, replied: 바카라�We are too busy with Pakistan!바카라� After a short pause, he added, 바카라�Whenever we get spare time from Pakistan, we tend to look to America. For us, only these two countries matter. One we hate; one we admire.바카라�

India바카라�s diplomatic relationship with her neighbours can be appropriately described through the words of Mehta. No country in this region is either enemies or rivals for India, besides Pakistan. Countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka seem to be just neighbours. They are somehow dependent on India for mass supplies바카라�Nepal gets its gas and oil supply from or via India.

Sometimes these countries say they experience cultural encroachment from India via Bollywood and other entities. Indian involvement in the neighbours바카라� interim politics is also a huge issue for the political parties, critics and the press.

Being the largest economy in this region, India is dominant in arts, culture and sports too. Because of that influence, India바카라�s unrest or war with others also affects its periphery. We have been witnessing ongoing wars바카라�Russia-Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine, from quite a distance바카라�though more than 70 Nepali youth lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war. But when tension arises between India and Pakistan, we are affected immediately. A five-day aerial confrontation almost shook the region, which became the talk of the town.

Indian media has been a bridge between the neighbours. Specifically, Indian television바카라�s ultra-nationalist and provocative coverage has sometimes created problems. One such instance was the coverage of Nepal바카라�s earthquake in 2015 by the Indian media바카라�when India바카라�s rescue team arrived in Kathmandu to help Nepali people. Soon they started irritating Nepali citizens with their over-the-top reporting, as if Indians are the sole saviours of the Nepali people.

While people appreciated the generosity of the Government of India, they couldn바카라�t bear the ear-shattering sound of the arrogant anchors, which reflected in the trending of the hashtag #backoffIndianmedia.

Largely, the scenario has not changed as yet. Most of the people in Kathmandu바카라�s coffee shops, streets, press, and on social media believe that India tries to interfere unnecessarily in the internal matters of Nepal바카라�s politics, as if Nepal cannot govern itself.

Moreover, in terms of intervention, it became apparent when India tried to halt the promulgation of the Constitution of Nepal in September 2015. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent the then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Kathmandu with a sudden message to not promulgate the constitution within the deadline. But Nepal바카라�s Constituent Assembly, almost unanimously, passed the Constitution, where among the 532 voters, only 25 members voted against it. Moreover, most of the leaders gave fiery speeches against foreign intervention, referring to India as if it was a victory against the administration in New Delhi, which, somehow, proved to be true when India imposed a blockade against Nepal immediately after the promulgation of the new Constitution.

But it is not fair to say that Nepal바카라�s politics and politicians are not influenced by its southern neighbour. Political analysts and critics have been illustrating the Indian influence from the time of the abolishment of the 104-year Rana regime in 1951, the 12-point agreement between the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and seven political parties of Nepal in 2005 in New Delhi, to the present pro-monarchy protesters holding the picture of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on the streets of Kathmandu.

When the 바카라�attacks바카라� broke out between India and Pakistan recently, after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, the primary question raised in Kathmandu was 바카라�whether the Gurkha regiment is deployed on the war front?바카라� People were concerned about the safety of our brothers, who have been serving in the Indian Army. In the Pahalgam terrorist attack, one Nepali citizen Sudeep Neupane, along with 25 Indians, died. That incident brought the rift back between India and Pakistan to a move towards escalation. Nepal바카라�s Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli and the foreign ministry strongly condemned the attack in X. Though our foreign ministry took a stand against terrorism, it didn바카라�t mention the need for diplomacy or dialogue to solve the tension between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Whereas celebrities like Kangana Ranaut, who is also a Member of Parliament, refers Nepal in an interview as 바카라�a small country in India바카라�s neighbour, which she assumes as being part of India바카라�. She can바카라�t, nobody should issue such silly statements. More importantly, celebrities and politicians in both countries should know the sensitivity of the relationship between countries and should know differences between geographical size and sovereignty.

A similar incident happened in 1999, when Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit바카라�while promoting her movie Aarzoo, along with Akshay Kumar in Kathmandu바카라�shared, 바카라�I have a feeling of being in India.바카라� What changed significantly was that her posters were burned on the streets of Kathmandu, Ranaut got backlash on social media after her statement.

Movies like Chandni Chowk to China also provoked Nepali sentiments when it inaccurately claimed that the Buddha was born in India. It clearly shows that many Indians don바카라�t know and care about Nepal바카라�s history and politics, as Mehta mentioned. This kind of ignorance peaks when Nepali students gather to protest the death of a Nepali student at the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Odisha, and the senior staff of the college abuses them as if they are studying there at their mercy. They don바카라�t know any history or the relationship between the two nations. Incidents like this leave their scars in a mutual relationship.

In my opinion, Bollywood is the most influential cultural phenomenon in Nepal-India relations. Bollywood, including the movies, TV serials and music industry, has collectively influenced urban Nepalese youth바카라�s idea of culture, love and relations. We enjoy good Bollywood movies, and not just Hindi films, but Indian regional cinema too바카라�Pushpa 2, RRR and KGF were top grossers at the Nepali box office. When actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and director Anurag Kashyap came to Kathmandu to attend the Berlin-premiered Nepali film, Shambala, they made headlines. Hundreds of film and art enthusiasts, aspiring actors and filmmakers overwhelmingly attended Siddiqui바카라�s interaction in a Kathmandu theatre.

There have been writers like Phanishwar Nath Renu, who wrote the Nepali Kranti Katha (Story of Nepal바카라�s Revolution). For a long time, Indian books, movies and newspapers/magazines have played a pivotal role in shaping the opinion of Nepali writers and journalists. We have translated good Indian literature into Nepali. Writers from Premchand and Kamleshwar to Renu and Uday Prakash have been favourites with Nepalese people. I have translated Prakash바카라�s two books, Mohandas and Nail Cutter, in Nepali.

Thousands of Nepalese devotees took a deep dive at the Kumbh Mela. The Indian Premier League has become our sports event too, like the Premier League or the Euro Cup. But at the moment we are concerned about the regional peace and prosperity in the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region. Increasing unrest between India and Pakistan will affect us badly.

Some also fear that, like consuming goods, the rising extreme religious politics in India can also be exported to Nepal, which can harm the harmony of the heterogeneous Nepali society.

Nepal wants to be a beneficiary of the growing economy of her neighbours바카라�India and China. Nepal believes our giant neighbours can significantly moderate to uplift Nepal바카라�s economy. But concerns arose when our neighbours only looked at Nepal as a strategic land. Proxy wars and 바카라�undiplomatic diplomacy바카라� have been seen in the making and breaking of governments. We are more concerned about society and our aspirations for progress and development. Governments are born with an expiry date, but society remains forever. 

(Views expressed are personal)

Yangesh is a Kathmandu-based journalist and writer

This article is part of Outlook바카라�s 1 June 2025 issue, 'Gated Neighbourhood', which examines the state of diplomacy, media, and democracy in the wake of the ceasefire. It appeared in print as 'An Everest To Climb.'