Nepali Times: What initiatives have you taken after being appointed Nepal’s ambassador to India?
Deep Kumar Upadhyay: The earthquake struck just 12 days after I arrived in New Delhi, and I had to immediately start coordinating relief supplies even before submitting my letter of credence. Our embassy was turned into a relief collection centre. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me immediately after the quake and assured full support. The assistance pledged by India’s Foreign Affairs Minister in Kathmandu was on behalf of the Indian government, but more aid came from state governments, the private sector and the Indian people. The Indian parliament, for instance, decided to provide one month’s salaries of all MPs to support rebuilding of Nepal.
They say you have a good personal rapport with the Indian establishment. Does that make your job easier?
It does. In India, every government official receives a month’s paid leave to go on vacation. Nepal has now been added to the list of places where they can go on holiday. We also have a new agreement that allows Indians to visit Nepal using their own vehicles for one month and vice versa. It will boost Nepal’s tourism. A new plan is being designed to build six-lane roads connecting the East-West Highway to India’s border. We can end our power outage by importing cheap electricity from India after the construction of the Dhalkebar-Muzzafarpur transmission line is completed. Unfortunately, we have not been able to use the loan provided by India for our energy development. It took us years to decide the project’s name, and we still do not know when it will start. Other countries that took loans from India along with us have already completed 40 per cent of their projects.
The Indian bureaucracy and intelligence agencies have been blamed for hurting Nepal-India relations. Is that changing?
I feel India’s new political leadership wants to start afresh and right the wrongs of the past, open a new chapter in Nepal-India diplomacy. Indian Prime Minister Modi has taken the initiative to create a fund from the private sector to support Nepal’s post-earthquake reconstruction. That will further consolidate our relations.
So, Nepal-India diplomacy will now be guided from the political level?
India willingly or unwillingly micromanaged Nepal’s affairs in the past, but its new political leadership seems to have realised that was a mistake and should not be repeated.
Do you really believe that?
It’s evident in India’s actions so far. Instead of always making a mountain out of a molehill, we should acknowledge the change and work towards strengthening our relations. We have assured India that anti-India activities will not take place in, through, or from Nepal. We have also explained our concerns. As a result, several agreements that got stuck for years have now been inked. So there is hope.