KATHMANDU: The anti-Indian sentiments
triggered by banned Bollywood film "Chandni Chowk to China" has stoked fresh
demands for the recovery of the land acceded to India by Nepal nearly two
centuries ago.



On Monday, as India celebrated its 60th Republic Day,
students staged a noisy protest in front of the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu,
asking for the restoration of "Greater Nepal".



Led by a Nepali
literature professor, Phanindra Nepal, the Unified Nepal National Front is
asking India and Britain to separate certain areas from four Indian states and
return them to Nepal since they were part of Nepal's territory in the 19th
century.



"If our demand is not heeded now, one day, it is going to
become an even bigger issue in India than Kashmir," the 58-year-old Nepali told
IANS. "I have visited these areas and found that Nepalis of Indian origin as
well as Nepalis forced to seek menial jobs in India support the demand."




The roots of the movement for a "Greater Nepal" go back to the 19th
century when Nepal fought a series of grim battles with the British, who had
turned their eyes towards the Himalayan kingdom after colonising India.




After several exhausting Anglo-Nepalese Wars, Nepal narrowly averted
conquest by agreeing to sign a treaty that however stripped it of almost
one-third of its territory.



The infamous Treaty of Sugauli signed in
1816 saw Nepal concede territory in Sikkim, Darjeeling and Siliguri which lie in
India's West Bengal state, and territory that now lies in India's Himachal
Pradesh and Uttaranchal.



Nepal also lost tracts of fertile land in
its southern Terai plains but recovered that from the British later for helping
the East India Company in 1857 to put down the Indian rebellion against the
colonial rulers.



Now, the Front is seeking to get back the conceded
territory that is still part of India.



"This is a just and
legitimate demand," says Nepal. "In 1950, an independent India signed a treaty
of peace and friendship with Nepal and both sides agreed that the earlier
bilateral pacts signed during the British rule stood scrapped.




"Therefore, the Sugauli Treaty is now invalid and India has no
further rights to the ceded Nepali territory."



Last year, the Front
unveiled a new map of Nepal, depicting the Himalayan republic with the addition
of the land lying in India. It also sent a memorandum to Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh as well as Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, pointing out that
Britain also has the responsibility of resolving the dispute since it was party
to it.



Nepal says that India has a precedent of returning ceded
territory.



"The Indo-Bhutan Treaty of 1949 returned to Bhutan a 32
sq km strip of land known as Diwangiri," it says.



Nepal feels the
demand would become a mass movement once Nepalis realise how they would benefit
from it.



"Nepal would get back about 100,000 sq km," he says. "It
will extend Nepal's borders till Bhutan and Bangladesh.



"This means
Nepal will no longer be bound by India or dependent on it for trade."




The Front is trying to cash in on the fresh anti-Indian feeling that
arose after the Bollywood film "Chandni Chowk to China" wrongly stated that the
Buddha was born in India, instead of Nepal.



Monday's rally called
the film an attack on Nepal's sovereignty and underlined the need for a Greater
Nepal.