In Nepal's hour of crisis, India opens border; illegal immigration can wait

New Delhi: Earthquake-affected Nepal is currently the Indian government’s biggest concern. Revealing its plans to rebuild the shattered country specially Kathmandu, singer-turned-BJP-minister Babul Supriyo says, “The first thing we’ve done is to open the border between India and Nepal completely to facilitate a free flow from the neighbouring country.”

“We know this could lead to future problems of illegal infiltration. But at the moment we are not worried about the repercussions. Our neighbour is in distress. We’ve opened the doors of our country for them.”

As a minister for urban development Babul wants to extend every help to Nepal to rebuild their country.

“Homes built in Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal during the last five years are most badly hit. That’s because they have not been constructed keeping in mind the high level of risk from earthquakes. Homes have been built in the belief that the Gods would look after them. Bhagawan ke barose zindagi chal rahi tthi,” says Babul.

The singer-turned-politician added, “In whatever way Nepal needs us, we are there to help them. We’d like to do a lot more. The rescue operations are not optimized because some of our largest air force planes cannot land at Kathmandu’s small airport.”

However the world seems very pleased with Narendra Modi government’s relief efforts in Nepal.

“I always tell Narendra Modiji that we should not only call him the PM . He should also be called AM, as he works round the clock. Yes, our efforts in Nepal have been noticed. In fact I am pleased to tell you that Spain has requested our government to rescue 90 of their citizens who are stranded in Nepal. We are on the job. We want to let Nepal know that we don’t just want to help bring relief after the present catastrophe. We want to ensure that the country is well prepared for such an eventuality in future,” he added.