Nepal can adopt a Look South policy
policy popularly known as Neighbourhood First. In our relations with Nepal, as with other neighbours, we are guided by the policy of sovereign equality. An important element of India’s Neighbourhood First policy is that each country has a sovereign right to pursue its developmental agenda while keeping the strategic concerns of the other in mind. Nepal’s development will help benefit India and vice versa.
Under the dynamic leadership of Modi, India is undergoing a huge transition. In Nepal, Oli has put emphasis on an economic and development agenda. Nepal, too, is changing fast. So, the challenge in both the countries is to understand and manage consistency and change in our bilateral relations.
India is committed to supporting Oli’s ambitious development agenda. ‘Sab ka saath – Sab ka vikas’ (development for all sections of society) has been the mantra of Modi. He appreciates that the fruits of development should reach the last citizen. In Nepal, too, various sections such as Adivasis, Dalits, women and Madhesis will gain from the government’s focused development activity.
Nepal can adopt Look South as its development policy. Look South doesn’t mean India alone. Today, oceans play an important role in the economic development of the nations. In the south, the Indian Ocean offers Nepal a huge opportunity.nepal can access the most happening region of the Indian Ocean through Kolkata in India and Chittagong in Bangladesh. It opens up huge opportunities for the country’s development. It will also benefit the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China.
Amid these attractive propositions, there exist some challenges too. Both countries so far have very limited activity with respect to building a knowledge base about each other. Very few universities and centres in India focus on deepening the knowledge base about Nepal. I assume the same is the situation in Nepal. It is time we built new institutions for this purpose in both the countries.
Both Nepal and India are committed to the principles of democracy and inclusive development. Three visits by Modi to Nepal in this one year indicate India’s growing affinity with the Himalayan neighbour which is being enthusiastically reciprocated by the Oli-led government in Nepal.
Ram Madhav is general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party. This is the text of his address at the inauguration of the Nepalindia Think Tank Summit in Kathmandu. The views expressed are personal