RSS leader in Kathmandu

With the BJP expressing “relief” over the Nepal Prime Minister resigning on Monday,the RSS was watching the rapidly changing situation in the Himalayan kingdom keenly with one of its senior leaders,Indresh,already camping in Kathmandu. Indresh,according to sources,is likely to meet a “host of leaders” there. Former RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav also toured Nepal a fortnight ago though it’s not clear who all he met during his stay there. Madhav refused to elaborate on his Nepal tour but said the “Maoists were working against the spirit of democracy”.

A section of the saffron brotherhood,however,believes that Nepal Army chief Gen Rookmangud Katawal took a stand that is not only pro-Nepal “but also pro-India”. Yogi Adityanath,representing Gorakhpur – that has age-old ties with what was once the only Hindu kingdom – said “Katawal should be thanked for his stand”.

The BJP,however,made light of the charge that Katawal was “pro-India”. BJP vice-president Yashwant Sinha on Monday said “such charges were being made by forces that were essentially anti-India”. Sinha also launched an attack on the UPA Government for “outsourcing its foreign policy to the CPI(M),particularly to Sitaram Yechury”,that has resulted in “India’s clout in its neighbourhood getting considerably eroded in the last few years”. “Hoardings like ‘welcome to the gateway of China’ have suddenly appeared at the Kathmandu airport,” he said.