India and Nepal share historical, cultural, and religious ties dating back to the era of Gautam Buddha. These ties continued in the modern era too, reinforced by the 1950 Indo-Nepal friendship treaty, economic and strategic compulsions, and people to people relations, commonly called Roti-Beti relations. However, from the past couple of years, Indo-Nepal relations are under severe strain with the Kalapani territorial dispute being the recent one in a long list of grievances Nepal has against India.

Reasons For Raising Nationalistic Fervor In Nepal

1. The rise of a new generation of Nepali youth and political elite who does not share the same emotional bond with India.
2. Nepal was the only officially Hindu state resulting from the Hindu empires from the 18th century to 2006 and was never colonized. But the promulgation of the new secular constitution in 2006 and the abolition of monarchy in 2008, led to resentment contributing to the rise of aggressive Hindu nationalism.
3. A substantial number of Nepali society believes that India is excessively interfering in Nepal’s internal affairs. The argument is that as long as India continues to meddle in Nepal, there will be nationalism which could lead to ultranationalism, and eventually even militancy.
4. There are internal differences in Nepal between the prosperous hilly regions and the less developed southern region. To reduce this difference Nepal is institutionalizing federalism.
5. However, a section of Nepal political parties who stand to lose their hold on power due to this development are using the anti-Indian sentiment to stir nationalistic fervour to foil the attempts of decentralization.
6. Nepal politics also have a very crucial role to play in this phenomenon. The current Prime Ministers’ domestic position was weakening for some time and the inept handling of the COVID crisis added fuel to fire. Under pressure, he utilized anti-Indian sentiment and nationalism to stir up the Kalapani issue.

Why India Is Perceived As Hegemon By Nepal

The rise of Anti-Indian sentiments and nationalism in India was mainly because Nepal is considering India as a hegemon and irked by its big brother attitude. Recent incidents between these two countries have contributed a lot to this sentiment.

1. Both Nepali Congress — often considered pro-India — and the Communists have decried the alleged “big brother” attitude of India.
2. Since the 1950s, India has treated Nepal as an extension of its own geographic reality, so much as those allegations of New Delhi’s intervention in Kathmandu’s domestic affairs have been raised at regular intervals.
3. India’s prompt response in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake was appreciated. However, the way Indian media presented the whole rescue effort as some kind of a favour bolstered the local antipathy towards Nepal.
4. The Pro India group enforced a blockade on the India-Nepal border, unhappy over the new constitution which it believed did not do justice to the people of the Terai plains. Nepal alleged this to be planned by India to create internal unrest.
5. Though Nepal is dependent on India for much of its trade and other infrastructure projects, as a sovereign nation, it is also free to chart its own foreign policy course. However, India’s staunch opposition to Nepal-China relations also is a cause of upset for Nepal.

Fundamental Reset In Relations

Apart from the rise of nationalism and India’s perceived hegemony, there are also other reasons for the downturn of relations between these two countries. India is unhappy about closer ties between China-Nepal. Nepal’s developing economy needs huge investments which China is providing, whereas there are extraordinary delays in the completion of infrastructure projects by India, the territorial disputes between the two countries all caused a downturn in the relationship which at this point in time needs a fundamental reset.

1. Though India has always claimed that two countries claim a special relationship, Nepal for a very long time has been alleging that the terms of the relationship are mostly one-sided.
2. In light of rising nationalism and anti-Indian sentiment, India needs to renegotiate the 1950 peace treaty incorporating changed circumstances.
3. Instead of bowing down to political opportunism and rhetoric, both counties should make diplomatic efforts to resolve the territorial disputes.
4. India should stop looking at Nepal purely from a security prism and be a part of the zerosum game with China and realize the changed ground realities.
5. Any drastic reset in relations will affect Nepal enormously in the form of ending visa-free travel, disbanding the Gorkha regiment, difficulties for students coming to study in India, etc.
6. Nepal should also understand these realities and address India’s concerns with regard to China. Nepal ensures that any of its developmental activities with China does not jeopardize India’s strategic interests.

India in accordance with its neighbour’s first policy must have deeper and meaningful engagement with its smaller neighbours, to understand their fears and concerns, and try to address them in a responsible way.

SAGAR is a maritime initiative of India that focuses on the blue economy. The goal of SAGAR is to increase maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean region and to achieve prosperity and development of all the counties in the region. The word SAGAR was coined by PM Modi in his 2015 Mauritius visit.

How India Seeks To Differentiate Its Leadership From Others

The Indo-pacific region has immense importance in the context of global trade, security, and also geopolitics. With the 21st century being perceived as the Asian century it is only natural that the focus of all global powers is on this region. 1. Usa Interest

1. However, despite this focus, the interest of various major powers is different. The United States is perhaps the largest and most important player in the Indian Ocean region. The US military has bases spread across the Indian Ocean to secure its interests and protect its allies.
2. The US interest in this region is mainly from a military and strategic standpoint. It aims to achieve two objectives through its presence, secure and maintain its superiority in this economically important region, and to counter the rise of China.

2.Chinese Method And Interest: For China Indian Ocean regions is attractive mainly for three reasons, to secure its maritime trade routes, to increase strategic heft in this region, especially in resource-rich Africa, to counter the US might in the region, and to prevent India from gaining clout in the region.

1. Chinese interests are purely political and economic. It is not invested in the development of this region. This fact shows in the way it conducts its policy with Indian Ocean Littoral states.
2. Chinese cheque diplomacy is aimed at debt trapping poor African and Indian Ocean littoral states and leveraging that debt for favourable policies. The ninety-nine-year lease of the Hambantota port of Sri Lanka is a good example of this fact.
3. Apart from ruining the economies of these smaller states and using new-colonial methods to acquire important territories and forcing the government for favourable policies, Chinese irresponsible and mindless exploitation of natural resources has disturbed the fragile ecology of these countries.
4. Chinese methods have created deep discontent in smaller littoral states and created a sense of distrust about any major powers’ altruistic adjectives.

3. Indian Interests And Different Methods: Unlike India, neither China nor the USA the two major players in this region are Indian Ocean states. Due to this fact, their interest in the region is purely based on selfish motives. 4. India, however, is the largest Indian ocean state with nearly 7300 km of maritime border and has historical, cultural, and good diplomatic relations with all littoral states. 5. Any disturbance in the Indian Ocean region like piracy or bilateral issues will hurt Indian interests. 6. At the same time, the Indian growing population means Indian needs attain consistent economic growth, the one component of which is the blue economy. Thus India’s interests lie in peace and development of India ocean regions. 7. However, due to past experiences littoral states are wary of any major power and hence India is trying to differentiate its methods while dealing with these countries. India is positioning SAGAR as its consultative, democratic and equitable vision for the region.

1. The objectives of SAGAR to establish a climate of trust, and transparency; respect for international maritime boundaries, peaceful resolution of maritime issues, are markedly different from policies followed by other major powers in the region.

How India Seeks To Reassure The Littoral States

Being smaller states in the regions Indian Ocean littoral states are naturally wary of larger states like India especially in recent times when its economy and global influence are growing. Moreover, India and China are engaged in a race to acquire preeminent positions in Asia, and more often than not it is these smaller states that end up being collateral damage in this kind of competition. India realizing the apprehension of littoral states seeks to reassure them via its actions and policies.

1. India is acting as a net security provider in the region. Indian navy regularly patrols this area to combat privacy and other illegal activities like human and drug trafficking.
2. As a net security provider, India aims to build capacities of littoral states. With these agendas in mind, it held 16 country multilateral naval exercises called Milan.
3. Disaster management has been another key initiative of India in the littoral region. India is proactively providing disaster relief to the littoral states. The best example is relief provided to Madagascar ravaged by cyclone Ava.
4. India is also at the forefront in preparing these countries for disasters by providing early warning systems. For example, after the 2004 tsunami, India has deployed the Indian Tsunami early warning system, which is now designated as a regional India tsunami service provider.
5. India is also acting as a first responder in the region. Recently in the light of the COVID crisis, the Indian government has launched mission Sagar to provide COVID relief to many littoral countries.
6. Over the past decade, India has built immense goodwill due to its Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief(HADR) missions, search and rescue operations.
7. Indian naval ship INS Kesari has departed for Maldives, Seychelles, Madagascar, and Comoros to provide food items and medicines and also medical assistance.

With India aspiring to be a global power it is circulating it maintains maritime influence in the Indian Ocean region especially now when the indo-pacific region is gaining prominence. In the past couple of years, India has been focusing on expanding its maritime economy and started initiatives like SAGARMALA. The success of these initiatives also depends upon the successful implementation of SAGAR vision. In a positive sign of goodwill that India holds in these countries, India was recently accorded observer status in IOC.