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An Indian Air Force plane landed at yet-to-be-inaugurated Gautam Buddha International Airport, Bhairahawa, with security personnel and bulletproof cars for Prime Minister Narendra Modi May 16 visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
This will be Modi’s first visit to Nepal in his second term as the PM, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha. PM Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba are expected to attend the main ceremony at Maya Devi Temple, the exact place where Buddha is believed to have taken birth.
Officials said Modi will fly down to Lumbini from Kushi Nagar, another Buddhist pilgrimage site where Buddha attained Nirvana. He is also likely to lay the foundation stone of a monastery to be built with India’s assistance.
Though officials here are tight-lipped about the agenda for discussion between the two sides, “connectivity of Buddhist shrines” is said to be on the list. Also, Deuba had recently told an election gathering that Indian assistance will be sought to develop the 760-MW West Seti Hydro Project. Deuba had said since India was reluctant to buy power from China-aided projects in Nepal, he will talk to PM Modi about the West Seti project.
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