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BJP welcomes change in Nepal

NEW DELHI: Breaking its silence on the recent developments in Nepal, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday hoped that the new “secular” Nepal “will not be anti-Hindu and anti-India.”

At an expanded meeting of the party’s central office-bearers, a political resolution, covering inflation, the Nepal developments and the Tibetan protests, was adopted.

The resolution said: “Till recently, Nepal was a Hindu nation and because it was a Hindu nation, it dealt equitably with its citizens belonging to other faiths. Now, Nepal is being declared a secular State. We hope that under the new dispensation, Nepal will not become anti-Hindu and anti-India.” At the same time, the party “welcomed” the change from monarchy to democracy.

The BJP said it hoped Nepal’s new democracy would mean true freedom where people would be able to express different points of view, and that “it will not be a copy of the democratic model seen in North Korea or under the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.”

The BJP’s view was that India should keep a watch on the developments in Nepal; it should make renewed efforts to strengthen bilateral ties; and take constructive and timely steps.

On Tibet, the resolution said the Government of India had damaged the country’s independent foreign policy.

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