"India has not only violated all the international laws related to trade and transit but also the related provision of Indian constitution [by stopping Nepal-bound cargo vehicles]," Gautam answered lawmakers' queries at a meeting of the parliament's committee on good governance on Monday. "I believe that even the Indian citizens are against it and they will help us get justice."He claimed that India had not succeeded in its attempts to make Nepal a failed state by imposing similar blockade in 1990 and that it will not prevail this time, too. "In 1990, it was India's Congress-I that was unsuccessful in making Nepal a failure. This time, the Modi-government is also bound to fail," said Gautam.
He expressed displeasure toward Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for adopting tough diplomatic approach toward Nepal, mainly after the latter promulgated the new constitution on its own in a most democratic and participatory manner.
While denouncing India's harsh measures against Nepal, he also recalled that Modi was the first Indian prime minister ever to address Nepal's Constituent Assembly meeting last year, during which he was full of praise for Nepal as a country of Gautam Buddha and brave Gorkhas.
He went on to say that Indian authorities were now bent on forcing Nepal to surrender even though the two countries share an age-old tie described even by many Indians as bread-and-bride relations.
Referring to the protests against the new constitution, Gautam compared Madhes-based parties' rejection of the decision taken by an overwhelming majority of the Constituent Assembly to "tail wagging the dog."
"Of the total 240 seats, the disgruntled parties have won only 11 constituencies. How can they dictate terms to those who won 229 seats?" he said.
The deputy prime minister informed that the government has been mulling some alternative arrangements to ensure the continued supply of essential goods in the market. "The checkpoint at Tatopani along Nepal-China border is likely to open in five to seven days," said Ngaindra Prasad Upadhyay, secretary at the ministry of supply, at the same meeting.
In Rasuwa, the road that leads the border with China has been cleared on the Nepali side, but China is yet to clear landslide debris on its side.
It was also informed at the meeting that the government was preparing to operate a border check point with China in Mustang, where the check point can operate only for some months.
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