India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, which is considered as a nationalist Hindu Party is sending a delegation to Nepal to meet Maoist guerrillas and others political actors while Nepal is awaiting a historic change in the government.
A five-member team, headed by the party's foreign cell chairman Surendra Arora, is arriving Kathmandu Wednesday on a four-day tour.The BJP, which still supports King in Nepal, will be meeting the Maoist guerrillas for the first time. The Maoists are sure to join the interim parliament on Monday.The BJP team is expected to meet various Maoist leaders including Chairman Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, who also heads the party’s foreign relations department.
In addition, the visitors will meet Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, and other leaders from the rulling alliance. The visitors are also expected to hold consultations with Pashupati Shamsher Rana, chief of the Rastriya Prajatantra party, a once pro-king party that has now seemed to distance itself from the king.
Ashok Singhal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad which is a close ally of the BJP visited Nepal soon after King Gyanendra's power grab in 2005 and supported the move. However, the BJP has decided not to visit the king or raise the issue of religion at this juncture.
After last April, Nepal's parliament declared the Hindu kingdom a secular country as well as curbed the powers of the king. The move, till recently, was opposed by the BJP, who want Nepal to remain a Hindu state with the king as head of state.
However, the Indian party held an internal meeting in Lucknow last month to assess the situation in and around India and rethink its strategy, where it was decided to drop the cry for a Hindu kingdom.
Yet, there are many people within the BJP who support Nepal’s King as the only Hindu Monarch in the world.
The visit will try to strengthen relations between Nepal’s political parties and the BJP. The BJP is concerned about Indian Left parties’ growing popularity in Nepal. They supported the pro-democracy movement and are regarded as allies both by the seven-party ruling alliance and the Maoist guerrillas.
