Can the Khanal visit reset Indo-Nepal ties?
Nepal’s Foreign Minister arrives in New Delhi with unusual candour and a concrete agenda. The real test is whether rhetoric can be converted into results
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal arrived in New Delhi with something unusual in diplomatic circles: candour. On his first visit representing Prime Minister Balen Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) government, Khanal skipped the customary pleasantries and acknowledged plainly that Nepal had wasted years of growth while India surged ahead. That kind of honesty from Kathmandu is itself a departure from the past. Indo-Nepal relations have long been strained by geography, identity, and politics. Border disputes — most notably the Kalapani-Lipulekh-Limpiyadhura row of 2020 — left deep distrust. Past Nepali governments, trapped in unstable coalitions, found it convenient to weaponise anti-India sentiment for domestic audiences. The result was a relationship perpetually held hostage to Nepal’s fractious electoral politics.
The RSP’s rise — driven by youth-led protests against corruption — changes this calculus. Unlike Nepal’s older parties, the RSP carries no decades-long ideological baggage toward Beijing or New Delhi. Khanal put it plainly: his party came from professional, non-political backgrounds, free from the ideological reflexes of the past. That is a welcome break from the past. A government that doesn’t need the anti-India card for political survival is one India can genuinely work with.
The agenda Khanal brought to meetings with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Doval was refreshingly practical. Energy concerns tops the list — Nepal’s vast hydropower potential remains deeply underutilised. A comprehensive sectoral framework, including a tripartite power-export arrangement involving Bangladesh through Indian transmission lines, could transform Nepal’s finances and South Asia’s bid for clean energy. Rail links between Janakpur and Ayodhya, new air routes through Bhairahawa and Pokhara — would unlock Nepal’s landlocked economy. A UPI-based payments agreement and AI collaboration on regional languages complete an agenda that is, crucially, achievable in a short span of time. Yet hard questions remain. The boundary dispute hasn’t been resolved. No lasting partnership can indefinitely avoid a territorial disagreement with deep nationalist resonance on both sides. India, too, must resist its historical paternalism: the assumption that Nepal’s foreign policy must align with New Delhi’s preferences, a notion that smacks of big-brother-attitude.
Nepal has seen governments fall with dizzying frequency. The RSP is young, and Shah has yet to prove his reformist instincts can survive the grind of governance. The real test won’t be the MOUs signed during the visit, but whether they are actually implemented on the ground. What this moment demands from both capitals is institutional depth. Fast-track the energy framework. Invest in Nepal’s human capital through the proposed IIT and AIIMS. Economic cooperation is the best glue both countries can have to cement the relations. The RSP arrived without past baggage. History doesn’t dissolve in one visit. But this window — perhaps the clearest in a decade — deserves to be seized with urgency by both sides.
