INDIA has been forced to deny accusations that its blockade of neighbouring Nepal is aimed at restoring that country’s overthrown monarchy.

In a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers on the fringes of the UN general assembly on Wednesday, India’s Sushma Swaraj insisted her government was not seeking to interfere in Nepalese affairs.

“Allegations have been made to us,” Ms Swaraj told Nepal’s Mahendra Bahadur Pandey. “But we are not in favour of reawakening monarchy in Nepal.”

She also denied that New Delhi was blocking trade with Nepal, leading to critical shortages.

“India has not obstructed the transportation of goods to the border and will not do in the future,” the Indian minister said.

The two nations have been in dispute over Nepal’s new republican constitution, passed last month.

Nepal’s royal family was overthrown after a 10-year war by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), whose leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachandra, became the first post-monarchy prime minister.

India’s Hindu chauvinist BJP government expressed “concern” after protests by minority Hindus against the constitution’s definition of Nepal as a secular state left 45 people dead.

Sit-in protests at border crossings have blocked imports.

With Nepal dependent on its southern neighbour for most of its trade, the cutting-off of shipments has compounded hardship caused by April’s catastrophic earthquake, which killed more than 8,000 people.

Some 100 lorries carrying food and five fuel tankers entered Nepal on Wednesday after a meeting between officials of the two countries.

But, yesterday morning, more than 1,000 were still waiting at the border.

Nepalese Home Office spokesman Laxmi Dhakal said: “Indian officials want to send trucks carrying fruit, vegetables and other food items to Nepal as these items have begun to rot. We need fuel at this moment, not vegetables and fruit.”

Indian opposition Congress Party MP and former cabinet minister Mani Shankar Aiyar wrote this week: “The best the rest of us could do is to apologise to the Nepalese for the atrocious behaviour of our Establishment and wish them all the best for a stable future.”