BJP hosts ex-Nepal PM Prachanda amid China's bid to reunite communist parties of Nepal

The chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Pushpa Kamal Dahal, on Sunday returned to Kathmandu after a three-day visit to New Delhi without having a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The CPN (MC) leader and the former Prime Minister of Nepal was hosted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its headquarters earlier on Sunday.

India hosted him even as China lately stepped up its bid to reunite the CPN (MC) with the other communist parties of Nepal, where parliamentary elections would take place later this year.

Dahal had a meeting with the BJP president J P Nadda at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

As Nadda and Dahal, who is also known as ‘Prachanda’, exchanged views about political processes in both the nations and explored ways to expand engagements between the BJP and the CPN (MC), External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also dropped by.

Prachanda, a former Prime Minister of Nepal, and Jaishankar discussed the future course of the relations between India and Kathmandu.

A meeting between Prachanda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also expected, but it did not happen.

The CPN (MC) chairman said after flying back from New Delhi to Kathmandu that he had been told before embarking on the visit that he would have a meeting with the Prime Minister of India, but he was not aware why it did not take place. He, however, said that his visit to India was “successful” and “fruitful”.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra called on Prachanda after his arrival in New Delhi for the three-day visit.

“As friendly neighbours, our two countries have been aware of each other’s concerns and sensitivities. Nepal has not allowed its land to be used against the interests of our neighbours and it expects similar assurance from India,” Prachanda said at an event in New Delhi.

“Mutual trust and respect for each other’s sensitivities have helped to overcome some misunderstandings in the past," he added.

Nepal is one of the South Asian nations where China has been trying to elbow out India to expand its geopolitical influence, not only through development schemes but also through engagements with political parties. China had in 2018 played a key role in bringing the CPN (MC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) or CPN (UML) together and launch the new Nepal Communist Party.

The Nepal Communist Party, however, dissolved in March 2021 due to internal differences. Beijing, however, sent Liu Jianchao, the head of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to Kathmandu earlier this month to meet Prachanda, the CPN (UML) leader K P Sharma Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Socialist) – apparently to bring the three parties together as the country might go to parliamentary polls in November. Liu also had meetings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and other leaders of the ruling Nepali Congress – a party perceived to have closer links to India and the United States, rather than China.

New Delhi’s relations with Kathmandu had suffered a setback after the erstwhile K P Sharma Oli’s government had ratcheted up the Nepal-India dispute over 400 sq km of land at the Lipulekh-Kalapani-Limpiyadhura area in 2020 – at a time when the Indian Army had been resisting the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive moves in eastern Ladakh.

The relations between India and Nepal however returned on track after Deuba succeeded Oli.

“There are some issues left by history that need to be addressed in good faith to fully realize the full potential of Nepal-India relations and cooperation. The matters related to the 1950 Treaty, boundary and EPG (Eminent Persons Group) report need to be resolved through diplomatic efforts and dialogue. In the spirit of good neighbourliness, we can make our relations problem-free,” Prachanda said in New Delhi.