KATHMANDU, August 14

CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli on Friday said that some people were trying to spoil the harmonious relationship between Nepal and India at a time when Nepal was on the verge of promulgating a new constitution.

Speaking at an interaction organised by Reporters’ Club on the eve of 69th Independence Day of India, Oli pledged to foil the ulterior motives of such ‘anti-national’ elements.

Although he didn’t particularly blame a single force or individual for the same, he denounced Upendra Yadav-led Nepal Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal’s recent attempt to provoke sectarian violence in Kathmandu and Kailali.

Yadav, while addressing a protest rally in Dhangadi yesterday, had reportedly threatened the people of hill-origin to leave the Tarai. “We all heard what India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in New Baneshwor and Chabahil during his Nepal visit last year. We take India’s official policy as what PM Modi and ambassador tell us,” said Oli referring to Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae, with whom he shared the dais. The new statute will be promulgated soon through necessary revision of the issue of boundary — based on public feedback, he added. He said Nepal would address the genuine security concerns of India, such as terrorism, trans-border crime, human trafficking and smuggling of fake currency.

Oli also made it clear that Nepal, as a sovereign nation, would keep good relations with both its neighbours— India and China.

Nepali Congress Vice-President Ramchandra Paudel said Nepal-India ties would remain intact for centuries through shared nature and culture.

Shedding light on the roles of Nepali leaders BP Koirala and Manmohan Adhikari in India’s independence struggle and India’s support for Nepal’s democratic movements, the NC leaders said the two countries could achieve more by strengthening the bond of friendship.

Poudel pledged that concerns expressed on the issue of boundary would be addressed in the final draft of the constitution, even if it took a couple of days extra. Ambassador Rae recalled India and Nepal’s cooperation in each-other’s political revolutions and stated that the two neighbours needed to join hands for each-other’s economic revolution.

He said PM Modi was for the development of both the countries as per his ‘neighbourhood-first policy’ and quoted him as saying, “If one neighbour remains unstable, then the another can’t remain stable and peaceful.”

He said India was optimistic that Nepal’s new constitution would address the concerns of all sides and follow the voices that led towards peace, stability and development of the country. He underscored the need of early implementation of all bilateral development projects, including the Power Trade Agreement and Project Development Agreement on some major hydel projects in Nepal.

Former foreign minister Prakash Chandra Lohani, UCPN-Maoist leader Ram Karki and ex-ambassador Shankar Sharma expressed similar views that the country wanted to reduce its alarming trade deficit with India with the latter’s support and generosity.