Nepal's constitution is an achievement: Modi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dubbed Nepal's constitution as an important achievement.

Feb 20, 2016The Brief

From the archive blog: The Brief

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dubbed Nepal's constitution as an important achievement.

After meeting with Nepal's Prime Minister KP Oli in New Delhi on Saturday, Modi told a joint press conference: "After decades of struggle, framing and promulgation of Nepal's constitution is an important achievement."

However, Modi said success of the constitution would depend on consensus and dialogue, clearly hinting that India still wants to see a consensus between the Big Three and Madhesi parties.

He added: "I am confident that you (Oli) will take Nepal on the path of peace and stability by resolving all constitutional issues through political dialogue and by taking along all sections of the society."

Oli is on a six-day India visit two weeks after the Indian blockade against Nepal was lifted. He held a meeting with his Indian counterpart on Saturday to restore Nepal-India ties strained by the blockade.

India had not welcomed Nepal's constitution, expressing displeasure over the content and process of the charter endorsed by an elected assembly. To put pressure on the Big Three parties to reach a consensus with Madhesi parties that rejected the constitution, India had imposed a trade blockade on Nepal in September of last year.

In the last five months, Nepal and India held rounds of formal and informal meetings at various levels to restore diplomatic ties between the two countries.

After Nepal passed a resolution to amend the constitution to address issues of proportional representation and form an all-party mechanism to review federal boundaries, restoration of the strained ties had begun.

Speaking at the same press conference, Oli said: "The misunderstanding that persisted in the past few months is no longer there. It is high time that we looked at Nepal-India relations with forward looking approach."

Oli and Modi also jointly inaugurated the Dhalkebar-Muzzafarpur transmission line, which will enable Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) to import 80 MW of electricity and reduce load-shedding hours. This transmission line will be upgraded to import up to 200 MW by October 2016 and 600 MW by December 2017.

On the occasion, Nepal and India also signed Memorandums of Understanding to allow the landlocked nation to access Bangladesh through Kakarvitta-Banglabandh corridor and Visakhapatnam port. Oli and Modi also renewed agreements on construction of Tarai roads and utilization of the money pledged by India for Nepal's post-earthquake reconstruction.