- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Days after a fissure developed in the ruling coalition of Nepal, the country’s government has denied allegations made by former prime minister KP Oli about setting up a Buddhist university in the country’s Mustang district in the north with aid from India.
A spokesperson of the government led by prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ issued a release on Sunday (5) in which called allegations brought by Oli as false and denied that the government has given any permission for the establishment of the university in an area that is close to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
“Claims about government permitting a varsity in Mustang’s Baragung Muktikshetra Village Council is delusional. We hereby also announce that the Government of Nepal hasn’t made any such decisions,” Rekha Sharma, Nepal’s minister for communication and information technology said in the release.
Oli, who is the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML) on Saturday (4) said that the government is planning to allow Nepal’s southern neighbour to set up a university in the area where Khampa rebels had settled after fleeing Tibet in the 20th century. He also accused the plan as an attack on Nepal’s sovereignty.
“In order to turn the country into a playground for foreigners, the government is allowing India to open a Buddhist college in Mustang. This plan is an attack on the country’s sovereignty,” Oli, who served as the prime minister of Nepal on two occasions (2015-16 and 2018-21), said.
Oli, who is not known to be pro-India, also slammed Prachanda saying the latter betrayed China, the country’s northern neighbour, of allowing India to set up the institution in a restricted area that borders Tibet in China.
According to reports, the Indian government has planned to spend over Rs 700 million to set up Buddhist colleges in the restricted territory of the Upper Mustang. The Barha Gaun Mukti Chettra Rural Municipality- the local body of the restricted area had sent the request to the Indian government via the Indian embassy in Kathmandu for funds to construct the university.
Sharma said the proposal was forwarded to New Delhi at the request of the local Barha Gaun Mukti Chettra Rural Municipality, and no final decision was taken.
Oli’s party recently withdrew support from the Prachanda-led coalition government which took charge just a few months ago after the prime minister decided to support the opposition’s candidate for the March 9 presidential election.
(With agency inputs)
