BackoffIndia


#BackoffIndia is a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign against the "intervention" of India in Nepal's affairs and the "blockade" of Nepal. It was used by Nepalese around the world to accuse India of interfering in the country’s internal matters. As of 12 December 2015, more than 6,750 tweets have been created in Twitter with this hashtag.
The Twitter hashtag again gained popularity when the Government of India’s Press Information Bureau released a map of India's territories in connection with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation on 2 November 2019. The map showed Kalapani territory in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand state of India, which is disputed by Nepal, as a part of Darchula District of Sudurpashchim Province. Nepalese took to social media backing their government's claim to it using the hashtag.

Background

On 20 September 2015, Nepal adopted the new Constitution of Nepal after the announcement by Rambaran Yadav, the then President of Nepal in the house of parliament. It was passed with 90% approval from the representatives in Nepal's Constituent Assembly. On 16 September 2015, out of the 598 members of the Constituent Assembly, 507 voted for the new constitution, 25 voted against, and 66 abstained in a vote. Parties representing Nepal’s Madhesi and Tharu ethnic communities organized protests against the constitution, leading to widespread violence in southern Nepal and a targeted campaign by Nepal security forces against protesting citizens based solely on their ethnicity. The Nepal government has accused India of unofficially backing this protest by slowing or stopping traffic from crossing the border into Nepal completely. However, India has maintained that Nepal’s failure to draft an inclusive Constitution is responsible for the unrest. It has also been pointed out by India that the “blockade” is taking place on Nepal’s side of the border, where protestors have attacked Indian drivers who were trying to transport food and facilitate trade between the two neighbors.

Conflict with Government of India

On 23 September 2015 demonstrators in Kathmandu shouted anti-India slogans to protest the fuel shortage. Nepal Cable Television Association blocked 42 Indian channels in protest against unofficial blockade into the country.