Indians or Nepalese do not need passport for travelling cross the Indo-Nepal border. The border is open and what is most significant is the people of Bihar and border area of Nepal have family relations through marriages and descendants.

No one had expected even in his dreams that Nepali forces would not allow the Indians to enter into Nepal. As the border row between India and Nepal intensified, Nepali forces fired at Indian farmers on Friday killing one while three others were left injured. The incident took place in Lalbandi near Indo-Nepal border at Sonawarsa in Bihar. One injured person has allegedly been taken away by the Nepal police.

The relations strained last month after the Nepali government issued a new map showing Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as its own. The Nepali cabinet has already approved the new map and the Nepali parliament will discuss it tomorrow. Going by the developments it is explicit that the parliament would adopt the proposal and with this the Indian land will in future would become the part of the Nepali territory.

According to the Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) Personnel at Narayanpur, Sarlahi border clashes erupted after a group of Indian nationals "forcefully" tried to enter Nepal via the border point. As per Nepali media reports, the APF personnel fired at least ten shots in the air to disperse the people.

The latest incident is the manifestation of utter failure of the diplomacy and diplomatic exercise of Modi government. Shocking indeed that Modi failed to prevail upon the Nepali leadership and dissuade them from showing the portions of Indian territory as their own. The firing clearly manifests the decline and deterioration of the Indo-Nepal relations.

False boasting and speaking lies are not unknown to Modi. There are numerous such examples that dot his six year rule. After coming to power he had launched two major programmes; denigrate the image of Nehru and his Nehruvian policy and the second was to build his mage of a statesman cross the world. With the promise to make India a super power he invited the Chinese president twice to India. On both occasion he was given boisterous reception by Modi. For this he chose Gujarat as the perfect place.

He had made Indian believe that China was the friend in need; the true and benevolent friend. For him Xi Jingping represented a new hope and new future. But during this six years China showed its red eyes to India at least on two occasions. This was in sharp contrast to his and his colleague Rajnath Singh’s admonition to the then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2013 that he was a timid guy and lacked courage to show red eyes to Xi. At that time the Chinese forces had simply violated the LAC. They had not occupied any piece of land as they have done this time.

In the context of the recent Chinese incursion into Ladakh one would like to know why Modi and his defence minister, the warrior Rajnath Singh were not showing red eyes to China. During Dr Singh’s time they had charged the government of lacking the spirit of nationalism. In the present backdrop Modi has virtually withdrawn from the scene and left his colleagues to do the talk.

Modi is not the exception. Almost all the leaders speak some amount of lies. But it is the quantum and nature that differs keeping in view the ground realities. On March 25, 2020 Modi reminded India that war in the Mahabharata was won in 18 days and he would won the war against the coronavirus within 21 days. Once again Chinese incursion has exposed his experiments with untruth. It would be unfair to single out Modi. His dearest friend Donald Trump is known for his aversion to the truth,

The extent to which the relation between China and India is strained could be gauged from the earlier observation of the Indian Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat that India needs to shift focus from its border with Pakistan to that of China and spoke of pressure being exerted by Beijing along the Line of Actual Control. Little doubt his observation was against the consensus reached by leaders of both nations to bring ties back on track and preserve peace on the border.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said; "Last year, India-China relations have witnessed some twists and turns but Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS meeting last September reached a consensus to bring the ties back on track".

China and India are important neighbours. They are both at a critical stage of the national development and rejuvenation. The two countries should enhance strategic communication and eliminate strategic doubt and conduct strategic cooperation.

In this context it is worth mentioning that on Sep 19, 2014, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had told Chinese President Xi Jinping that "peace and tranquility" at the border is imperative and that all issues as agreed earlier should be resolved. The expansion of relationship will prove important for manufacturing and infrastructure work.

At that time Dr Singh who was a member of the delegation led by Sonia Gandhi which met XI had made a significant remark; “peace and tranquility on border is imperative and we have to remain fully committed to it as these were guiding principles. Both countries have to remain "steadfast" to resolve all issues "as was agreed between the two countries earlier".
(IPA Service)