Questions raised in Nepal over ‘Akhanda Bharat’ mural in new Indian Parliament building

Kathmandu, May 31 (Representative) Ahead of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s four-day visit to India, beginning tomorrow, questions have been raised in Nepal regarding the “inclusion of Nepali territory in the map of ‘Akhanda Bharat’ (undivided India) in the recently inaugurated new Parliament building of India”. Former Nepalese PM Baburam Bhattarai has raised questions about the “intention of the Indian government” over the Akhand Bharat mural in the new Indian parliament building, saying this could potentially stoke unnecessary and harmful diplomatic row in India’s neighborhood including Nepal. “The controversial mural of ‘Akhand Bharat’ in the recently inaugurated new Parliament building of India may stoke unnecessary and harmful diplomatic row in the neighborhood including Nepal,” Bhattarai wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “It has the potential of further aggravating the trust deficit already vitiating the bilateral relations between most of the immediate neighbors of India,” he posted. The former Nepal prime minister has also asked India to communicate the real intent behind the move. “It would be prudent for Indian political leadership to unravel and communicate in time the real intent and ramification of this mural episode,” he wrote. Meanwhile, Nepalese Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Shakti Bahadur Basnet has said that Nepal has taken notice of the inclusion of Nepali territory in the map of ‘Akhanda Bharat’ (undivided India) in the recently inaugurated new Parliament building of India.

Addressing a meeting of the infrastructure development committee under the House of Representatives on Tuesday morning, Basnet said that it is necessary to find out what kind of map it is. During the meeting, CPN-UML lawmaker Thakur Gaire had drawn the government’s attention to reports of inclusion of Nepal’s Lumbini and Kapilvastu in the map inside India’s new Parliament building. In reply, Basnet said that the government will find out as it has taken notice of the issue. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal begins his India visit on Wednesday. Basnet is also part of the 88-member delegation headed by Dahal. According to the prime minister’s secretariat, five ministers will accompany Dahal on his visit. Nepalese Prime Minister Dahal’s four-day official visit to India from May 31 to June 3 is his first bilateral visit abroad after assuming office in December last year. He is visiting India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Dahal will be embarking on the trip along with his daughter, Ganga Dahal, and various other dignitaries and high-ranking officers, according to the Nepalese Foreign Ministry. In addition to the official engagements, Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will also be visiting Ujjain and Indore as part of his visit, a statement said.