Three days after Prime Minister Balendra Shah’s dramatic statement in Parliament about Nepal also occupying Indian territory, his party’s chair Rabi Lamichhane met in New Delhi with Indian leader Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
The RSP Chair had earlier been feted with rose petals, dancing and singing at the headquarters of Modi’s BJP party in New Delhi, and he has since met India’s Home Minister Amit Shah and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.
Lamichhane’s visit comes at a time when India-Nepal relations have been buffeted by what has been seen in Delhi as impulsive and erratic decisions by Prime Minister Shah: bringing up the Limpiyadhura-Kalapani-Lipu Lek territorial dispute, taxing Nepalis returning with petty purchases from India, and his latest remarks about asking Britain to be included in talks to resolve border issues that date back to colonial times.
New Delhi has bluntly rejected any British involvement, but officials there appear to be confused about what to make of Prime Minister Shah’s statements and actions and how to react to his populism. Last month he turned down a planned meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who then cancelled his visit to Kathmandu. Shah has also refused to meet US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Ambassador Sergio Gor.
Which is why Officials in New Delhi probably needed the five-day visit by Rabi Lamichhane to explain to them the RSP government’s thinking and to get inside what makes Nepal’s new prime minister tick. They could also be trying to gauge the relations between Shah and Lamichhane, which at times has appeared strained.
Interestingly, members of the RSP government who have been appointed by Lamichhane have widely shared images on social media of their party chair’s meetings with Indian leaders, whereas there has been mostly silence from the Balendra Shah appointees.
Prime Minister Modi himself said he was ‘delighted’ to have met Lamichhane and welcomed his offer to work together on mutual cooperation for the prosperity of both countries. Ever since he was first elected to office 2014, Modi has espoused a ‘Neighbourhood First Policy’, and made it a point to visit Nepal 12 years ago and address Parliament in Nepali language.
But the six-month border blockade by India following the promulgation of Nepal's new Constitution in 2025 had adversely affected bilateral relations.
The visit elevates Rabi Lamichhane’s position within his party as well as his stature in Nepal as someone more acceptable to the international community, including Nepal’s neighbours. Observers have remarked how Lamichhane who till September was in jail for allegedly defrauding depositors of cooperatives, and made a jailbreak on 9 September 2015 during the GenZ uprising was now meeting India's top movers and shakers.
Lamichhane is accompanied by his wife Nikita Poudel, and will also fly to Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram in a symbolic attempt to demonstrate historical cultural ties that bind Nepal and India. Sita was born in Janakpur in Nepal.