Any misunderstanding between India and Nepal will be sorted through dialogue, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday while addressing Uttarakhand Jan Samvad virtual rally.

“India-Nepal ties are not ordinary, we are bound together by‘ roti-beti’ and no power in the world can break it,” Singh said. The minister said that the road built by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) in Lipulekh is“very much part of the Indian territory”.

Singh’s comments came after the government of Nepal, over the weekend, got a unanimous approval of its lower house in parliament to a new map depicting disputed areas of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as Nepaleseterritories.

India reacted, stating that such “artificial enlargement” of territorial claim is untenable. Rakesh Sood, who was Indian Ambassador to Nepal from 2008 to 2011, said both sides have allowed the relationship to come to a“very very dangerous point” and that India should have found time to engage with Kathmandu as it pressed for talks on the issue since November.

“I think we have displayed a lack of sensitivity, and now the Nepalese have dug themselves deeper into the hole from which they will find it difficult to come out,” he told news agency PTI.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday addressed the Jammu Jan Samvad virtual rally during which he talked about the Modi government’s commitment towards the growth and development of Jammu and Kashmir in the coming years.

“Just wait, soon people of PoK will demand that they want to be with India and not under the rule of Pakistan, and the day this happens, a goal of our Parliament will also be accomplished,” he said yesterday.