International Desk: Nepal’s ruling party chief Ravi Lamichhane visited India on Tuesday for the first time since the government was toppled in 2025 in the face of a youth movement against corruption. He called for further strengthening of economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries.
The AFP news agency reported this from New Delhi.
However, Nepal’s new Prime Minister Balendra Shah did not go on this important trip. The 36-year-old former rapper has been relatively quiet since taking office.
He has also avoided meeting some foreign envoys stationed in Nepal. However, Balendra Shah’s aides said that he has decided not to travel abroad in his first year in power to focus on addressing the country’s various internal challenges, including the economy.
This is the first high-level visit to India by Ravi Lamichhane. He is a former deputy prime minister and home minister of Nepal. He is currently the president of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSP).
The party won a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections in March under the leadership of Balendra Shah.
Lamishane, a former television presenter, still plays a key role in the power structure. RSP spokesman Manish Jha told AFP that she is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Nepal, a landlocked Himalayan nation of 30 million people, has to maintain a diplomatic balance between its two superpower neighbours, India and China.
India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal a traditional ally. The two countries share an open border in the plains.
According to the World Bank, India is Nepal’s largest trading partner. India accounts for 63 percent, or $8.6 billion, of the country’s total imports. China is in second place, with 13 percent, or $1.8 billion.
Lamishane wrote in an article published in The Hindustan Times on Tuesday: “A stable and prosperous Nepal acts as a natural buffer zone on India’s northern border. On the other hand, politically divided Nepal worries India about the instability in its neighboring region.
He also wrote, “Therefore, Nepal’s economic development is also a strategic need for India.”
Shah has rarely spoken publicly since coming to power. After winning the election, he responded with a rap song in which he vowed to “run like a leopard” to ensure the country’s success.
The visit also brought to the fore a long-standing border dispute over the Lipulekh Pass, which borders Nepal, India and China.
This snow-capped pass, located at an altitude of 5,334 meters above sea level, is used by Indian pilgrims to travel to Mount Kailash, sacred to Hindus and Tibetan Buddhists. It is also a direct route between India and China.
Protests broke out in Nepal when India inaugurated a new road to access the pass in 2020.
In his speech in Parliament on Sunday, Shah said that both India and Nepal have “intruded” into each other’s territory.
He called for a friendly resolution of the dispute.
His remarks sparked a strong reaction in the parliament in Kathmandu.
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