Nepal is offended after Jaishankar claimed Buddha was an India

 India has stirred a new controversy with its neighbor Nepal, after the government identified exception in the statement of foreign minister S Jaishankar claiming Buddha was India.

Jaishankar was attending a CII event on Saturday where he said, “Who are the greatest Indians ever that you can remember? I would say one is Gautam Buddha and the other is Mahatma Gandhi.”
India’s relationship with Nepal is already in a very sensitive position. The country has a very complicated bilateral relationship with India as of now and the statement made by Jaishankar adds to the turf. It was soon that the Nepal’s government issued a sharply worded riposte said, "It is a well-established and undeniable fact proven by historical and archaeological evidence that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini, the Birthplace of Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism, is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites.”

MEA gave a clarification on Sunday stating, “EAM’s remarks yesterday at the CII event referred to our shared Buddhist heritage. There is no doubt that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, which is in Nepal.”

The Foreign Ministry of Nepal has even stated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he visited Nepal in 2014, stated that "Nepal is the country where the apostle of peace in the world, Buddha, was born."

"It is true that Buddhism spread from Nepal to other parts of the world in the subsequent period. The matter remains beyond doubt and controversy and thus cannot be a subject of debate. The entire international community is aware of this," the Nepal statement added.

Ironically, the new controversy stirred a day after India donated 10 ICUs to Nepal. “These ventilators are designed for a broad range of applications to include advanced invasive or non-invasive respiratory support. They can be used in support of secondary care in hospitals with ICU, tertiary multispecialty hospitals and dedicated ICUs. Further, due to their compact nature, they are portable and handy in transportation of patients requiring intensive care.

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