Prashant Jha is the author Battles of the New Republic: A Contemporary History of Nepal and is the Nepal correspondent for The Hindu Times. In the recent article “Tale of two neighbours: Delhi’s dilemmas in a polarized Nepal” he writes about the the current feuding between Nepal’s political leadership and India’s approach, objective, dilemma and options. Here is an excerpt:
With confrontation looming, India has to decide its strategic objective in Nepal, and what is the best way to achieve it. It now has three choices – it can stick to the consensus line articulated by Modi but refrain from using its leverage to push through that line; it can go a step further, invest political capital in creating pressure on the ruling alliance and opposition to come back to the table and work out a consensus; or it can retreat, allow the political process to play its own course, and let a majoritarian constitution emerge if that is the outcome. Each approach is fraught with possibilities and risks.
“Tale of two neighbours: Delhi’s dilemmas in a polarized Nepal” was published on Hindustantimes.com