Balen Shah's Impending Visit To India Is In Focus Amid Search For Foreign Policy Clues

 

Kathmandu : Since taking office, Nepal's Prime Minister Balen Shah has avoided one-on-one meetings with foreign envoys or travelling overseas in a departure from the usual protocol set by his predecessors.

As a result, there is heightened interest in a planned visit to India, which officials on both sides are working on, although dates are yet to be announced.

The visit will reveal the 35-year-old Prime Minister's approach to India while also providing a glimpse into his wider foreign policy approach.

As of now, there is little clarity on how Shah plans to navigate Nepal's ties between India and China or whether he will choose India for his maiden overseas visit.

Lok Bahadur Poudel Chhetri, spokesperson at Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told ETV Bharat that Shah had received an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 27 to visit India, soon after he took the oath of office.

 

But he added that the dates and agenda for the visit have yet to be worked out.

“Our ministry always remains active and prepared for sudden high-level visits to, or from, India, or even China, the United States, the United Kingdom, or the United Nations,” said Mr Chhetri.

In March this year, Shah, who first gained fame as a rapper, was sworn in as Prime Minister after securing a landslide victory.

The politician, who has served as Kathmandu's mayor, broke the monopoly of well-entrenched political parties that had alternated in power for years.

 

Riding a wave of support from Nepal's youth, Shah, whose songs criticising corruption and the growing rich-poor inequities have been extremely popular, tapped into the discontent against established parties and politicians.

Nepal saw widespread youth protests last September triggered by a social ban but symptomatic of deeper discontent among young people over a lack of opportunities.

As a result, Shah has focused largely on domestic issues like restructuring the bureaucracy and rolling out anti-corruption initiatives.

But his administration is slowly turning its attention to Nepal's foreign policy, taking tentative steps towards engaging India for one.

 

While Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Mishri cancelled his Nepal trip in May, Nepal's Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal visited New Delhi from June 5 to 7 in the first ministerial visit from Shah's government, and Shah's closest advisor Kumar Byanjankar, widely known as Kumar Ben, visited New Delhi last month for the prime ministerial visit.

Additionally, his government has eased restrictions on Rs 200 and Rs 500 notes from India in a bid to improve economic ties with India even as the two countries officially launched a cross-border digital payment system.

But Shah's foreign policy is yet to come into full view.

 

Unlike his predecessors, he has not immediately set out on visits overseas to neighbouring countries.

The country's Prime Ministers have either chosen India or China for their maiden visit.

Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal broke tradition and visited China before India in 2008. Subsequently, K.P. Sharma Oli, when he was Prime Minister, also visited China first in 2024.

Nepal’s former ambassador to India Nilambar Acharya stressed that “it’s high time more meaningful high-level bilateral exchanges and visits resumed”.