'Nepal not just another neighbour': Brahma Chellaney claims India's missteps gave China inroads into Kathmandu

Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney on Wednesday took to social media to explain that India's dealings with Nepal have been nothing short of disastrous during the 2000s. He said that Nepal is not just another neighbour for India but one that is bound through cultural affinity, overlapping identities, and an open border that allows passport-free movement of tourists.

His take comes as Gen Z-led demonstrations intensified across Kathmandu and other key regions in Nepal. In response to the escalating situation, the Nepal Army and top security officials hvae appealed for calm and urged that dialogue is the only way to restore order. 

The analyst mentioned that India's influence on Nepal has steadily waned not only because China made inroads into Kathmandu but also due to New Delhi's missteps. 

"For India, Nepal is not just another neighbour but one symbiotically bound through cultural affinity, overlapping ethnic and linguistic identities, and an open border permitting passport-free passage. Yet Indian influence in Nepal has steadily waned — not only because of China’s inroads but also due to India’s own missteps," the geostrategist wrote in a social media post on X (previously Twitter). 

To substantiate his point, Chellaney listed two missteps by India in particular. He claimed that under the UPA dispensation, India helped engineer the 2008 abolition of Nepal's constitutional monarchy led by the then King Gyanendra. 

"That move cleared the path for Maoists and the Marxist-Leninist Party to share power with the once-dominant Nepali Congress, destabilising Nepal's politics and undermining India's long-term strategic interests," he explained how meddling with Nepal's internal affairs in 2008 backfired on India. 

Furthermore, he said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India imposed an undeclared blockade on fuel and other supplies after Nepal adopted a new constitution. 

"The blockade, from September 2015 to January 2016, compounded the humanitarian crisis unleashed by the April 2015 earthquake, stoked fierce anti-India sentiment, and hardened political narratives about Nepal's dependence on India. It also gave China an opening to step in as an alternative fuel supplier. Make no mistake: India is now reaping what is sowed."