Click to play videoNew Delhi: India is on the backfoot after it endorsed King Gyanendra's offer to transfer power as the people of Nepal have rejected the proposal outright.
Experts say the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) may have been out of touch with the ground reality in Nepal or New Delhi could be defending its own interest.
The MEA is known to move with elephantine caution when making official statements. But that caution was not reflected when New Delhi announced its endorsement of King Gyanendra's offer to transfer power to the seven-party alliance.
“This is a positive step from the King. Restoration of government and choice of prime minister is left to the seven-party alliance. The process of the return to democratic institutions as well as help in reconciliation in Nepal is up to them now,” Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.
But faced with a categorical rejection by the seven-party alliance, it was left to Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran to do a U-turn in order to some damage control.
“We do not wish to be in a position to prescribe for Nepal and to prescribe for the people of Nepal in what manner they would like to go about realising their democratic aspirations,” Saran said.
Saran not only backed the democracy movement to the hilt, he also gave the impression of India distancing itself from its two-pillar Nepal policy, which gives primacy to the monarchy and parliamentary democracy even though it has never worked.
Critics say the MEA seems to have completely misread the mood in Nepal.
"What we have seen in the past weeks is the demand of the people, not of the political parties," former ambassador to Nepal, Deb Mukharji, said.
At the end of the day, the diplomatic muddle at least saw India clarify its position to some extent to its friends and allies in Nepal.
But it has done no credit to its aspirations to be taken seriously as a regional power with a clear vision of where it stands and what it wants.
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