Nepal, June 10 -- S Jaishankar is not a name that has sat well in the Nepali psyche since 2015.

His September 2015 visit to Kathmandu as a special envoy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came just days before Nepal promulgated its new constitution. The visit, during which Jaishankar held a series of meetings with the country's top political leaders and conveyed New Delhi's reservations over the charter, was followed by a border blockade that left a lasting scar on the Nepali public memory. He was the foreign secretary then.

For years, the episode shaped how many in Nepal viewed both Jaishankar and India's approach to its northern neighbour. He became a name that symbolised one of the most difficult chapters in Nepal-India relations...