The inauguration of the new headquarters with which Modi intends to leave behind the colonial era has opened a dispute with neighboring countries as a result of a map of Ashoka’s empire in which the territories of Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Delhi’s defense: “It’s history, not politics.” But in Nepal, controversy arose over the expansionist goals of Hindu nationalists.
New Delhi () – It should be the first step in celebrating Narendra Modi’s post-colonial India. Instead, a controversial map unveiled at the inauguration is making the new Delhi Parliament an occasion for conflict with neighboring countries, alarmed by the ghost of Akhand Bharat, the return of “Greater India” longed for by the Hindu nationalists.
The object of the controversy is an installation of the new Indian Parliament, which was presented to the public on Sunday, May 28, during the inauguration. The new complex is the centerpiece of a more than €2 billion project that aims to eclipse the importance of colonial-era buildings in the center of the capital, making way for modern structures with a strong Indian identity.
Modi’s decision to personally spearhead the grand work and preside over the inauguration had already sparked protest from 20 Indian opposition parties, who boycotted the ceremony arguing that it should have been the Speaker of Parliament and not the Prime Minister who inaugurated the building. the assembly. However, once the inauguration was over, it was above all the presence of a large mural of Ashoka’s ancient empire – dating from the 3rd century BC – that caused controversy. It represents an undivided India (Akhand Bharat) whose geographical area includes present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and India.
The harshest reactions came mainly from Nepal, a country that maintains a delicate balance with New Delhi. What particularly angered Nepalis was that the mural featured Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and one of the major cultural centers on the Nepali map. “The controversial Akhand Bharat mural,” commented former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, “could further aggravate the lack of trust that already mars bilateral relations between India and most of its immediate neighbours.” For his part, the mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah, responded by showing in his office a map of “Greater Nepal”, which, among the vast areas of India claimed by Nepal, also includes the land link between mainland India and the states of the northeast.
The current Nepalese Prime Minister, Prachanda, tried to stoke the fire a bit: “We have raised the issue of the new Indian map that was exhibited in Parliament,” he told the National Assembly. “In its reply, the Indian side stated that it was a cultural and historical map and not a political one.”
The governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh also criticized the map. “We demand that India stay away from expansionist ideology and move closer to resolving disputes with neighboring countries peacefully,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said. For its part, although it acknowledged that there was “no reason to express doubts” about the explanations offered as a result of the protests that broke out in Nepal against the mural, the Dhaka government, at the request of public opinion, asked the mission in Delhi to “talk to the Indian Foreign Ministry for their official explanation”.
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