As India’s relations with Nepal hit another of their periodic lows, and in the wake of his rival Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s statement that the next coalition government would be “comfortable for India,” embattled Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli has said that he was in favour of a government that the Nepali people were “comfortable” with.
Mr Oli was speaking during the inauguration of the Purbanchal Cancer Hospital at the neighbouring town of Birtamod in Jhapa district in East Nepal yesterday.
The statements come amidst continued rumblings in Mr Oli’s Nepal Communist Party (NCP) government and the recent political developments after Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives as per his advice in December last year and the Supreme Court reinstated it on 23 February.
Mr Dahal, aka Prachanda, who leads a splinter faction of the NCP had earlier said that it was time PM Oli was replaced by a new coalition of his NCP faction, Nepali Congress and Janata Samajwadi, which would be “comfortable for India.”
“The road we have paved for ourselves, we should not let others damage it. We will keep cordial relations with our neighbours by keeping our national interests, our geography, our land, our sovereignty, our self-respect, intact. We do not need a government that others are comfortable with, but one that the Nepali people are comfortable with, one that is easy for the Nepali people, that can work for the Nepali people,” Mr Oli said.
“We will maintain friendly relations with all (countries), will take help from all, and cooperate with all, but our destination will be a prosperous Nepal, peaceful Nepal. Making others happy is not our job,” he added.
Mr Oli also welcomed people from neighbouring countries, especially India, to reap benefits from his country’s healthcare services, which, experts say, have now developed to such an extent that they can be compared to other top medical facilities in the entire South Asian region.
“People from Nepal and other countries can come here for medical treatment,” Mr Oli said, also mentioning how the services in Nepal were “way cheaper” than other places in South Asia.
“I can vouch for the quality and low cost of medical services that we provide in Nepal now,” he added.
The 100-bed Purbanchal Cancer Hospital, a separate wing of the existing B&C Teaching Hospital, and the brainchild of Nepali entrepreneur Durga Prasain, is already catering to around 20 cancer patients from areas in India near the Nepal border like Siliguri, Naxalbari and Matigara, and even from Sikkim.