Just weeks before Nepal erupted in flames this month, India had invited the Nepali prime minister to New Delhi on a state visit, partly to smooth over testy ties between the South Asian neighbors.
The prime minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, never got the chance. He was forced to resign earlier this month as sudden protests engulfed the small Himalayan nation, fueled by a groundswell of anger among young people at corruption, elitism and widening inequality.
A similar uprising in Bangladesh last year upended the authoritarian government of Sheikh Hasina. And in 2022, protests in Sri Lanka over a tanking economy forced out a president who was a member of a political dynasty many Sri Lankans saw as brazenly corrupt.
Such instability across South Asia distracts India from focusing on its ambition to be a global superpower. But India cannot leave things unattended in its own backyard. It already faces accusations from its smaller and poorer neighbors that it switches between ignoring them and bullying them, postures driven by self-interest rather than helping their development.
Neighbors such as Nepal have occasionally found themselves depending on India for humanitarian assistance and their economic stability, while chafing at its meddling in their domestic affairs.
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