"The speech which could be described as level-headed and delivered with compassion seemed very mindful of the Nepali sensitivities"

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament has won millions of Nepali hearts, said a daily Monday.

Mr. Modi’s address was the first by a foreign head of state/government to Nepal’s parliament after 1990 and he “won millions of Nepali hearts with his speech that he began in Nepali and continued in Hindi later”, eKantipur said.

“The speech which could be described as level-headed and delivered with compassion seemed very mindful of the Nepali sensitivities, which was visible not only at the cultural front but also at the political level,” the daily added.

Mr. Modi is on a two-day visit to Nepal that ends Monday.

“I congratulate you on choosing ballot over bullet,” said Mr. Modi, in an apparent reference to the Maoists who abandoned violence to join the political mainstream in 2006.

The daily noted that Nepali lawmakers gave a thunderous applause when Mr. Modi mentioned that Buddha was born in Nepal — “an issue that rouses deep passion in the country when various quarters of India claim that the former was born in India”.

He uttered the word Buddha five times, the media report added.