Modi’s first visit as prime minister was to Kathmandu, where he addressed the Constituent Assembly, visited the Pashupatinath Temple, and connected with locals.
India-Nepal ties, however, have often progressed inconsistently.
Nepal’s recent Gen Z-led political shift surprised New Delhi, but it also presents an opportunity to reset relations and address past missteps.
On April 25, 2015, when a devastating earthquake struck Nepal, India was the first respondent. Within six hours, the Indian Air Force was in action, flying in men and medical aid and helping in rescue operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an emergency cabinet meeting to plan India’s response and Operation Maitri was launched.
This was early in his tenure and he was popular in Nepal. Modi’s first visit abroad as prime minister was to Kathmandu, where he addressed a session of the Constituent Assembly, prayed at the Pashupatinath Temple and interacted with common citizens. Nepalese citizens were impressed and felt that here was an Indian leader who spoke from the heart. He was riding a popularity wave in the Himalayan country. It was an Indian prime ministerial visit after 17 years, indicating the importance of Nepal in his neighbourhood first policy.
In the first few days there was appreciation of India’s rescue efforts. The Indian media swarmed the place, and the breathless reporting by television channels of India’s great rescue efforts blared on screen 24x7. Public mood in Nepal changed within a week, as people felt that India was too keen to earn brownie points for its rescue work. This was prompted more by the godi media (read Modi media) than the government. But it left a bad taste. The hashtag #GoHomeIndianMedia began to trend in Nepal at that time.
“We might be poor, but we have our own sense of pride… The Indians were the first to come to our rescue, but they have hyped their contribution more than they’ve actually contributed,” Sharad Khatri, who ran a FM station, was quoted as saying at that time. The latent anti-India sentiments came to the fore at that time. One step forward and two steps backward is perhaps the best way to describe India-Nepal relations for the past several decades.
With the recent past in mind, the question for New Delhi is how to respond to the Gen Z tsunami that has overtaken the old order? What is the way forward?
One step forward and two steps backward is perhaps the best way to describe India-Nepal relations for the past several decades.
“It is important for India to align with the sentiments of the people of Nepal, respect the choices they make,” says Shyam Saran, India’s former foreign secretary. He points to the fact that Prime Minister Modi has already done so by his initial remarks “The violence that has happened in Nepal is heart-wrenching. My heart is extremely disturbed by the fact that many young people have lost their lives. Nepal’s stability, peace and prosperity are of utmost importance. I humbly appeal to all my brothers and sisters in Nepal to maintain peace and order.”
The temptation for India to insert itself into the current quagmire in Nepal must be avoided at all costs. “Getting out of the way is better than plunging in… Give advice only when it is asked, and support the reconstruction efforts as the destruction is widespread,” adds Saran.
Past Indiscretions
Anti-India sentiments erupt from time to time in Nepal. Most are fuelled by memories of New Delhi’s blockade of Nepal in 1988 and 1989 during Congress Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure. For landlocked Nepal, which depends on supplies coming through India, the decision to stop Nepal’s lifeline led to anger and distrust of its giant neighbour. That got reinforced, when the Narendra Modi government decided on an unofficial blockade of Nepal once again. This was a few months after the earthquake. The blockade lasted from September 23, 2015, to February 2016. It was in support of the Madhesi people who had protested the 2015 Republican Constitution as discriminatory.
“When the history of the Modi regime is written, the 2015 half-year economic blockade of landlocked Nepal, which was just emerging from a devastating earthquake, will stand out,” Kanak Mani Dixit, writer and political commentator, recently posted in X.
The second blockade proved once again that India as a big and powerful neighbour could do pretty much what it wanted. That distrust and anger with India led to the then Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli to turn to China.
Not that China was not present in Nepal earlier. Nepal is wedged between China and India. China had been friends to successive Nepalese monarchs and later to prime ministers of different political ideologies. But in recent years, with its growing economic, political and military clout, China has positioned itself as the foremost power in Asia. It has made massive inroads into India’s South Asian neighbourhood. Nepalese politicians today play the China card against India, whenever Kathmandu is overwhelmed by New Delhi. Since the 2015 Indian blockade, Nepal has been drawing closer to China. It has signed into China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and Chinese footprints are across Nepal.
Yet India and Nepal have much more in common than Kathmandu can ever have with China. Their destinies are intertwined by the threads of shared religion and culture. Temples, festivals, and centuries of intertwined heritage have fostered close connections across the border. Marriages between Nepal’s royals and Indian royal families are common. Yet, beneath this shared legacy, a growing generational shift is challenging the old order. The traditional political parties that New Delhi was familiar with are no longer the movers and shakers. Their power was eroded by decades of corruption. The Gen Z revolution in Nepal is driven by demands for a cleaner government, an independent identity and a rejection of what many young Nepalese see as India’s paternalistic “Big Brother” attitude. As India watches nervously, the relationship is at a crossroads.
Yet, it is not that India has no options in Nepal. India has strong institutional links with the Nepalese Army, and it was the army that got the youngsters to stop the violence. The army also played a significant role in putting in place a transitional government, with former chief justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister. She was the choice of the young people agitating for a clean government. This week, Modi had a telephonic conversation with Karki conveying India’s desire to further strengthen ties with Nepal. Karki thanked the prime minister for India’s support to her country. New Delhi realises the importance of reaching out to the new establishment in Kathmandu.
Though the Gen Z revolution—that upstaged the traditional power structure in Nepal—came as a surprise to New Delhi, it can now start afresh and correct the mistakes of the past. “The changes in Nepal give India a fantastic opportunity to recalibrate its policy, and look beyond its traditional political partners based in the Kathmandu Valley. India has to now reach out to all sections of the Nepalese people, spread across the seven provinces of the country, and spread its network through developmental projects across the length and breadth of the country,” says Mahendra Lama, member of the Eminent Persons Group set up by the prime ministers of India and Nepal. He wants New Delhi to reach out to the Adivasi Janajatis of Nepal. India can turn the situation around in Nepal if it proceeds with caution and humility.
Seema Guha is a senior journalist covering foreign affairs
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The article appeared in the Outlook Magazine's October 1, 2025, issue Nepal GenZ Sets Boundaries as What’s The Vibe Now?
