Mumbai: On Nepali radio stations, some of which are accessible in the border villages of Uttarakhand, there has been a sudden surge of songs focussing on the territorial dispute and advocating Nepal’s stand that Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura are Nepalese territory wrongly held by India.
According to a Times of India report, the songs speak of the return of the areas that were added to the newly minted map of Nepal. The Nepalese parliament recently passed a constitution amendment endorsing the country’s new map, which includes territories in India.
Nepali FM channels are commonly heard in the villages bordering the country. The TOI report quotes a school teacher in Dharchula in Pithoragarh district who used to until recently listen to the news on these radio stations. Babita Sanwal, a school teacher told TOI that since the nature of news and songs changed on the Nepali FM channels, she has stopped listening to them. “I have now stopped listening to Nepalese FM after they started playing a lot of anti-India songs on FM. These songs are being played multiple rounds, every hour,” she told TOI.
Nepal’s decision to redraw the map has not gone down well with India and this decision could severely jolt bilateral relations between the two countries.
India has already termed the move as “untenable” and “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims by Nepal. The decision was unanimously approved by Nepal’s both lower and upper house.
Also read: Watch | Why Is India Upset With Nepal’s New Map?
According to locals from Uttarakhand, most of the songs are being run on Nepalese FM channels like Naya Nepal, Kalapani Radio, Darchula Radio, Lok Darpan, Radio Sarthi and Mallikarjun Radio whose broadcasts are accessible across the border in towns like Dharchula and Jhoolaghat in Pithoragarh.
However, Nepali radio stations claimed that the news being relayed on their stations is business as usal. Manju Tinkari, a radio jockey with a Nepalese radio station, told TOI: “We neither exaggerate nor underplay things. We just read out the news bulletins as they have happened. Also, the choice of songs is mostly dictated by listeners’ requests.”
N.S. Napalchyal, the former chief secretary of Uttarakhand and who hails from Dharchula area of Pithoragarh, told TOI that the Nepalese “propaganda” needs to be strongly countered. “The state government and even the central government should start its own community radios in the area to give a clear picture to locals about the present scenario,” he told TOI.