India-Nepal relations unshakable like Himalayas, PM Modi says during Lumbini visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday invoked both Rama and Buddha to underline common cultural heritage between India and Nepal, as he visited the neighbouring country for the first time after the boundary row between the two nations was escalated by the erstwhile K P Sharma Oli’s government in Kathmandu.

“The relations between India and Nepal are unshakable like the Himalayas,” the Prime Minister said at the birthplace of Gautama Buddha in the neighbouring country. His comment was apparently intended to send out a subtle message to Beijing, which in 2020 made the then Oli Government in Kathmandu to ratchet up Nepal-India dispute over 400 sq kms of land at Lipulekh-Kalapani-Limpiyadhura area – at a time when the Indian Army was resisting the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive moves in eastern Ladakh.

Modi visited Lumbini in Nepal and had a meeting with the neighbouring country’s incumbent Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The two sides signed and exchanged six pacts, including an agreement setting the stage for India’s SJVN Limited to develop the 490 MW 4 hydroelectric project in Nepal. Deuba also conveyed to Modi a proposal for an entity of India to build 1200 MW West Seti and SR 6 joint storage hydro-electric project in far-western Nepal. Modi assured Deuba India’s continued support in development of the hydropower sector in Nepal.

“I am aware that people of Nepal are equally happy as a grand temple of Lord Rama is being built in India,” the Prime Minister said, referring to the shrine being constructed in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the Supreme Court’s verdict on Ram-Janambhoomi-Babri-Masjid dispute. Modi made the comment while speaking at an event held by the Government of Nepal to celebrate the 2566th birth anniversary of Gautama Buddha. He also reiterated the comment he had made at the birthplace of Rama’s wife Sita at Janakpur in Nepal in 2018. “Our (India’s) Lord Rama is also incomplete without Nepal,” he said.

The two prime ministers lit lamps and attended prayers at the birthplace of Gautama Buddha at Mayadevi Temple in Lumbini.

“Buddha is an incarnation of the collective sense of humanity,” Modi said. “That is why, rising above geographical boundaries, Buddha belongs to everyone, to everyone”.

Modi and Deuba laid the foundation stone for construction of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage at a plot belonging to the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) based in New Delhi. The plot was allocated to the IBC by the Lumbini Development Trust in November 2021.

The centre is being perceived as New Delhi’s response to Beijing’s $3 billion project to develop Lumbini. Nepal is one of the South Asian nations where India and its strategic rival China vie for geo-political influence. Both seek to leverage the legacy of Gautama Buddha to underscore cultural links with Nepal.