Striking a conciliatory note, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday that India is ready to hold bilateral dialogue if Nepal has any “misconceptions” on the Mansarovar Link Road.
Singh had inaugurated the road last month, an event that followed Nepal objecting to the strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass along the border with China in Uttarakhand.
While Nepal has asserted that this was a “unilateral act” contradicting the understanding reached between the two countries on resolving the border issues, the Defence Minister, while addressing a virtual rally organised by the BJP for its Uttarakhand unit, stressed on the centuries old cultural linkages between the two countries said “no power in the world can create problems between India and Nepal”.
The Defence Minister said if Nepal has any misconceptions about the 80-km Mansarovar Link Road, India is ready to hold bilateral dialogue on this.
Cultural ties
“I can confidently say that there is no ill-feeling among the people of India against Nepal. We have such a deep relationship with Nepal,” said Singh while underlining the “historical, cultural and spiritual ties” between the two countries.
Singh maintained that the link road is well within India’s boundaries.
Naming the temples where people of both the countries go for praying, he said, the relationship between India and Nepal is not limited to this world but to the “other world” too.
‘Diplomatic lapse’
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Karan Singh criticised both the Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for having led Nepal to an “irreversible confrontational posture with India” as also the Indian authorities for what he termed was a “serious diplomatic lapse”.
“Whatever impact this move may or may not have on India, I fear that the consequences for Nepal will not be favourable for the people of that beautiful country,” Singh said in a statement.
He said India should never have allowed the situation to deteriorate like this.
“Although the dispute in question is a longstanding one it was, if I recall correctly, raised by Nepal in November last year. Surprisingly, we did not seem to take the matter seriously. We should have immediately initiated Foreign Secretary level talk and then, if necessary, raised them to the level of Foreign Minister or even the Prime Ministers,” he said. Singh added that, prima facie , this appears to have been a serious diplomatic lapse.