The residents of Uttarakhand bordering village near Nepal has reportedly said that they can catch frequency of Nepal radio stations in their village but the surprise to them has come as the Nepal radio stations are playing anti-India songs that call for return of areas in Uttarakhand like Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura that have been included in Kathmandu’s new map.
The TOI reported that the songs are mostly played on FM between news bulletins and other shows. A school teacher, Babitaa Sanwal, in Dharchula in Pithoragarh district who was till some time back a regular listener of Darchula FM of Nepal, said she generally opted to listen to news on radio while walking back home from school. “I have now stopped listening to Nepalese FM after they started playing a lot of anti-India songs on FM,” she said. “These songs are being played multiple rounds, every hour.”
Sanwal said she remember the lyrics of one of the songs: “Hamrai ho tyo Kalapani, Lipulekha, Limpiyadhura… Utha, jaga, veer Nepali (Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura are ours… Wake up, brave people).” She tuned out after a local kid asked her if what is being said in the song is true.
It is also said that there are other songs which are being played that says, “Lipulekh and Kalapani should be ours, it’s our land that has been stolen”.
While some of these songs are between a year and six months old and have resurfaced now with a vengeance, quite a few premièred recently on platforms like YouTube between March and June this year.
According to locals, among the Nepalese FM channels whose broadcasts are accessible across the border in towns like Dharchula and Jhoolaghat in Pithoragarh are Naya Nepal, Kalapani Radio, Darchula Radio, Lok Darpan, Radio Sarthi and Mallikarjun Radio.
The state government spokesperson, Madan Kaushik, told TOI that the issue is “a genuine one and the government, which is already focusing on setting up community radios, will definitely give a thought to start local radio stations in Pithoragarh too”.
