Nepal unrest | K P Sharma Oli resigns as Prime Minister after 19 killed in 'Gen Z protest'

New Delhi: K P Sharma Oli’s latest term at the helm of the Government of Nepal ended abruptly on Tuesday, just about a week before he was scheduled to fly to Bodh Gaya for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a visit to India.

New Delhi is closely monitoring the evolving situation in Nepal, where the brutal police crackdown on students and youths agitating against rampant corruption and the ban on some social media platforms led to the death of at least 19 protesters on Monday. India stated that it was deeply saddened by the loss of many young lives in Nepal. “As a close friend and neighbour (of Nepal), we hope that all concerned will exercise restraint and address any issues through peaceful means and dialogue,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated in a press release issued in New Delhi on Tuesday, even as the protests intensified in the neighbouring country, leading to the fall of the government led by Oli.

India also asked its citizens to defer visits to Nepal. “Indian citizens presently in Nepal are advised to shelter in their current places of residence, avoid going out onto the streets and exercise all due caution. They are also advised to follow local safety advisories from the Nepal authorities as well as the Embassy of India in Kathmandu,” the MEA stated in a travel advisory issued from New Delhi on Tuesday.

Oli had visited New Delhi soon after taking over as the prime minister in Kathmandu on October 12, 2015, and again after returning to the helm of the government on February 15, 2018. He also hosted Modi, who visited Janakpur and Kathmandu in May 2018. His relations with New Delhi, however, turned sour in 2019 and 2020.

The Nepal-India boundary dispute returned to the headlines in November 2019. India published its new political map, showing Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh as two separate Union Territories in accordance with the August 5 decision of the government led by Modi. Oli’s government in Kathmandu objected, alleging that the new map shows Nepal’s Kalapani as a part of the territory of India. New Delhi dismissed the claim, stating that the map “accurately” depicted the “sovereign” territory of India.

In April-May 2020, as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive moves along China’s Line of Actual Control with India and the Indian Army’s counter-deployment led to a military stand-off in eastern Ladakh and it reached a flashpoint with a violent face-off in Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020. Nudged by Beijing, Oli’s government in Kathmandu also protested over a new 80-kilometre-long road that New Delhi built from Dharchula in Uttarakhand to the Lipulekh Pass – an India-Nepal-China tri-junction boundary point. It is alleged that the road passed through Nepal – a claim dismissed by India. Oli went ahead, got his government to publish a new map, which showed nearly 400 sq. kms of India’s areas in Kalapani, Lipulekh Pass and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepal. It also got Nepal’s parliament to amend the country’s constitution to endorse the new map.

Oli’s second term as the prime minister ended on July 13, 2021, but he returned to the office three years later – on July 15, 2024. He did not pay a visit to New Delhi soon after commencing his third prime-ministerial term. The two sides, however, recently worked out the dates for Oli’s visit to Bodh Gaya and his meeting with Modi.

Meanwhile, India and China on August 18 agreed to restart the border trade through the three designated points – Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La in Himachal Pradesh and Nathu La in Sikkim. Kathmandu objected to the move by China and India through the Lipulekh Pass, calling it a part of the territory of Nepal. Oli raised the issue during his meeting with Xi at Tianjin in China and promised his people that he would take it up with Modi during his visit to India.

Oli’s resignation as the prime minister of Nepal on Tuesday in the wake of mass protests by students and youths, however, dashed the hope for his visit to India.