CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal on Sunday started his nine-day visit to India at the head of a three-member delegation, which will spend one week in New Delhi and the rest in Kolkata. Nepal has said the purpose of the visit is to drum up India’s ‘moral support’ for Nepal’s pro-democracy movement as well as the cooperation of the Nepalis living in India. Nepal’s visit, the latest from Nepali leaders to India in connection with post-February 1 developments, is taking place ahead of the seven-party alliance’s nationwide protests scheduled after Tihar. Nepal, it is reported, is to meet Indian leaders, including prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh, chairperson of India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, and senior CPM leader Harkishan Singh Surjit, the head of the Nepal Democracy Solidarity Committee, the host to the Nepali delegation.

Indeed, both the present government and the opposition have been seeking international support for their causes. The international community, including India, has, by and large, given moral backing to the cause of the restoration of democracy. The fact is that representatives of both the sides have met Indian leaders and other influential persons from time to time in order to make their cases. However, when it comes to matters of moral support for democracy and human rights, objections to ‘foreign interference’, in present-day world, receive little domestic and international audiences. In his talks with Indian leaders, Nepal says, he is going to acquaint them with the seven-party alliance’s positions on the current political situation in Nepal, including the civic polls.

In reply to a journalist’s query, Nepal also said that the question of requesting Indian leaders to have the 13th SAARC summit postponed would also figure in his talks with them. According to him, the seven-party alliance’s postion is that this government cannot represent the Nepalis at any international forum because it not accountable to the people. Though it is not so easy to reject Nepal’s assertion, it would also be advisable to consider how it would affect the regional body. In the final analysis, Nepal’s geopolitical predicament is that it cannot dismiss its two giant neighbours when it comes to important matters, particularly their various types of interest in Nepal.