NEW DELHI: India slammed Nepal’s constitutional amendment to change its map on the national emblem to include Indian territories, saying it was not “tenable”.
In a strongly-worded statement after Nepal’s lower house unanimously passed the constitutional amendment on Saturday, the MEA spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava said, “This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.”
For the second time in five years, the India-Nepal relationship is heading for a train wreck. As KP Sharma Oli government in Kathmandu steered a constitutional amendment to Schedule 3 of the constitution to update the national emblem by incorporating Limpiyadhura, Lipulekh and Kalapani in Nepal’s map, bilateral relations dived to a new low. Saying that India had already clarified its position, India has told Nepal it would refuse to hold boundary talks with Nepal after the passage of this amendment.
Nepal’s foreign minister Pradeep Gyawali tweeted this afternoon, “The House of Representatives unanimously adopted the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving the way for accommodating the updated political-administrative map in the nationa