2015 Nepal blockade

The 2015 Nepal blockade, which began on 23 September 2015, is an economic and humanitarian crisis which has severely affected Nepal and its economy.

The government of Nepal has accused India of imposing an undeclared blockade. India has denied the allegations, stating the supply shortages have been imposed by Madheshi protesters within Nepal, and that India has no role in it. However, despite Indian denials, minimal border entries even from border points that have witnessed no agitation added to the allegations that it was indeed an India enforced border blockade.

As a landlocked nation, Nepal imports all of its petroleum supplies from India. Roughly 300 fuel trucks enter from India on a normal day, but this has dwindled to a sporadic passage of 5–10 fuel trucks daily since the start of the crisis, though shipments of perishables like fruits and vegetables have generally been allowed to pass. Moreover, India had also been stopping some Nepalese trucks at the Kolkata harbour. The blockade choked imports of not only petroleum, but also medicines and earthquake relief material.

A root problem is that the demands of Madheshis, backed by India, are in direct opposition to the demands of two other groups, which puts Kathmandu in a quandary. Two Ethnic groups - the Tharu and the Kiranti - have been enforcing bandh ( a general strike / blockade ) and agitating for full autonomy from Kathmandu. Madheshis have had clashes with Tharu protestors in addition to government forces, yet all these groups accuse Kathmandu of ordering excessive use of force by the police.

Political intrigue is a recurring theme of Nepal. Since the Nepalese royal massacre of 2001, the country broke out into civil war that only ended in 2006, the victors being UCPN-M power brokers who forced Parliament and the King Gyanendra to integrate them, the King later was forced to resign. The two big boys of UCPN-M are ex-Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai and party head Prachanda. Despite their once powerful posts and many disgruntled members having left the party with a few cadres after disputes and failures to get economic and political traction, the party never suffered from fallout as great as it has in 2015, when Baburam Bhattarai on 26 September severed ties with Prachanda and the UCPN-M amidst the Constitutional crisis and early days of the blockade, reducing the once formidable UCPN-M to an also-run political force despite its 80/600 parliamentary representation. Battarai stated chances of me joining an old or a cracked house is out of option. The ruling Nepali Congress itself had been under intense pressure due to failure to act on quake relief and the blockade, this and the UCPN-M split paved the way for Khadga Prashad Oli of CPN-UML to become PM on 11 October.

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