Dr. Bhattarai expresses dissatisfaction over Nepal’s new map on Indian media

KATHMANDU: On the issue of Nepal publishing a new map including the territories seized by India, the former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has expressed dissatisfaction for the first time. His dissatisfaction was expressed in a conversation with the Indian media.

Dr. Bhattarai had recently arrived in New Delhi for medical treatment. During his stay there, his interview given to India Today in Hindi is now becoming a subject of criticism on social media. The interviewer had questioned the issue of publishing the new map in Nepal.

The question was, “Recently there was a controversy over the map in Nepal. Do you think Oli rushed to pass the new map from the parliament? Should he have waited and talked to India, or raised the flag of nationalism?” 

Dr Bhattarai gave an unexpected answer as a response to this. Instead of defending the new map, he described it as a product of Nepal’s internal politics. He said that the issue of nationality was brought up as an internal crisis in the country could not be resolved.

Dr. Bhattarai’s answer: 

“This happens in a lot of South Asian countries. When an internal crisis arises and it is not resolved, the ruler raises the issue of nationality and diverts people’s attention. The same thing happened in Nepal. The border issue has been around since the time of the British. A political mechanism was created to solve it, which had to be solved by activating this. Mistakes have been made by both sides. However, being a small country, Nepal is suffering a lot. India is Nepal’s largest economic partner. We have economic and social relations. The Nepali people have to bear loss when relations deteriorate. We want such sensitive issues to be resolved through dialogue.” 

What is memorable is that when the constitution was amended to be passed by the Parliament of Nepal with the new map, Dr. Bhattarai also expressed support. Not only that, his party had taken action against MP Sarita Giri for speaking against the amendment and proposing differently. At that time, Dr. Bhattarai did not express any dissatisfaction. However, after reaching India, it is considered significant that he expressed dissatisfaction with the new map with the media there.

During his stay in India, Bhattarai said in an interview that he had informal conversations with his personal friends. He said that he did not have any formal conversation with anyone.

After returning to Nepal, Dr. Bhattarai advocated for the formation of an electoral government soon. Through Twitter, he called for the formation of an electoral government through political consensus. He has also put forward various demands including amending the constitution.