After Nepal included Indian territories in its new political map, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has raised serious questions on India's foreign policy under the Narendra Modi government.
Taking to Twitter, Swamy asked if it was not the failure of the Indian government on foreign policy front that Nepal is asking for Indian territory.
"How can Nepal think of asking for Indian territory? What has hurt their sentiments so much that they want to break with India? Is it not our failure? Need RESET in foreign policy too," the prominent BJP leader said.
The BJP Rajya Sabha MP has been critical of his own party's government over its economic policies and warned several times that the country may go in a deep economic crisis if his suggestions are not heard. The BJP leader has also claimed to have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding his concerns.
The latest salvo against the Modi government from Swamy has come in the backdrop of border tensions between India and Nepal. The ties between the neighbouring South Asian countries have deteriorated since the 2015 Madheshi movement when India allegedly stopped supplies to landlock Himalayan nation. However, the relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu hit a new low after the latter published its new political map that included Indian territories.
Nepal Parliament clears new political map
Nepal's lower house of Parliament on Saturday unanimously voted to amend the Constitution seeking to make alterations in the country's political map. Nepal has included Lipulekh, Kalapani, Limpiyadhura as its territory but these areas are part of India.
The move to introduce a new map from Nepal came after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated an 80-km-long road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand last month. Nepal claims that the road passes through its territory, even as India said that the road lies well within the Indian territory.
India says new Nepal map not tenable
Reacting to Nepal's new map, India said that the "artificial enlargement" was not tenable and violate the current understanding reached by the two countries to hold talks on understanding boundary issues.
"This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
