The happy prologue to the Nepal Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli&’s visit to India on 19 February will hopefully facilitate a mending of fences between the two neighbours both in the interests of regional stability and SAARC solidarity. Bilateral tensions were first manifest in the wake of the earthquake last April when Nepal turned down an assistance package from India, accepting similar benevolence from China instead. Initial reports that Oli would prefer to visit Beijing before landing in Delhi had made the waters murkier at a critical juncture. The rift in the lute appears to have been healed with the constitutional amendments – in deference to the sub-regional jingoism of the Madhesis – and the withdrawal of the crippling blockade on food and fuel on the Birganj-Raxaul border that was in force for as long as 135 days. The fact that the blockade, a standard weapon of reprisal in international law, has officially been withdrawn by India would suggest that it wasn’t exactly “unofficial”, after all. Yet the MEA&’s obfuscation persisted at the peak of the economic blitz. The fresh concessions that will be provided in the Constitution should help defuse the Madhesi movement, more specifically recognition of the ethnic group in the experiment to split up the Himalayan country into seven provinces. The structural change in governance had accorded short shrift to the Madhesis and at least a couple of other class groups, a point of fact that has not been countered even by the government in Kathmandu. The constitutional amendment, therefore, is a long-overdue course correction.

The Nepal finance minister&’s reported statement – “We want to forget the recent problems between us and move ahead with India” – inspires hope in the context of a redefined geostrategy. A similar desire to mend fences is evident in the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, leading a delegation to the funeral of the former Nepal Prime Minister, Sushil Koirala – a tribute to a leader who had done not a little to sustain cordial relations with India. Critical is the coincidence of a string of developments after a prolonged phase of irritants – Kathmandu&’s conciliation with the Madhesis, the constitutional amendments, the end of the blockade, and Ms Swaraj&’s visit. With the ice broken after the Modi-Oli telephone interaction, it becomes imperative for both countries to sustain the welcome change in atmospherics. The forward movement can gain momentum through a fruitful interaction during Oli&’s visit to Delhi; the fact that India now takes precedence over China in his tour programme is critical in itself.  However, there is no indication yet that Nepal will abjure the China card in its dealings with India.