Secular Nepal may face Hindu backlash, warns observers

Nepal, ruled by the monarch for centuries, is on its way to become a secular, democratic nation but its problems are far from over.

The May 18 declaration by Nepal's Parliament ending the country's distinction as the world's only Hindu state was one of the several tough decisions taken by the new government to coax Maoist rebels to join in a peaceful political process. However, the move has bred new conflict with the country's Hindu majority, political observers have warned.

Hindu groups in Nepal – which have strong backing from powerful Hindu fundamentalist organizations in neighboring India – have termed the declaration of a secular Nepal as "defamatory" and "dangerous," and have said that it could provoke a "religious crusade" in this tiny Himalayan nation.

According to news reports, following the announcement, Hindu groups have organized protest rallies in at least four districts in Nepal, and have demanded the reversal of the declaration.

Tourists in Nepal have recalled seeing Hindu holy men in saffron gowns taking to the streets in the capital, Kathmandu, and other cities demanding that Nepal be declared a Hindu state and have warned that this was just the beginning of what would be a nationwide campaign in the country, which consists of 80 percent Hindu.

"How can a 250–member Parliament decide on something as serious as this? A referendum would have been the best way to go about it," said Diwakar Chand, general secretary of the World Hindu Federation (WHF), UN–registered umbrella body of Hindu groups around the world.

There may not be a better example of the importance Hindu groups around the world – especially in India – lay on Nepal than the fact that the WHF is customarily headed by an individual recommended by the King of Nepal, popularly believed to be the incarnations of Vishnu – one of the top three gods in the extremely populous Hindu pantheon that theoretically has 330 million gods.

Recently, Rajnath Singh, president of India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), told a Nepali delegation in India that Nepal ought to remain a Hindu state. "The BJP would not appreciate a situation where Nepal loses its true identity and buckles under Maoist pressure," he told the delegation, according to a report carried by the national daily, The Hindu.

Many feel that the biggest worry for Hindu groups would be protecting the sanctity of cows in a secular Nepal. Presently, cow–slaughter is illegal as Hindus worship cows as incarnations of Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and the better half of Vishnu. The cow is also the national animal of Nepal.

Meanwhile, Hari Bhakta Neupane, president of Sanatan Dharma Sewa Samiti, the oldest Hindu group in Nepal, has warned that if people begin slaughtering cows in secular Nepal, communal riots are inevitable.

"Imagine a day when people slaughter cows in front of Kathmandu's temples. Hindus will be ready to give up their lives to stop it," he warned. Expressing worries also over the possibility of a conversion drive by people of other faiths, Neupane added that the campaign to have Nepal remain a Hindu state would soon reach all the 75 districts to prevent all these "unpleasant eventualities."

Though Hindus have strong reservations against the declaration by the Parliament, other religious groups including Buddhists, Muslims, Jains and Christians have welcomed the declaration. But those who have been most vocal in welcoming the move are the ethnic minorities.

"Hinduism lies at the root of racial discrimination in Nepal for the last 238 years of dynastic rule," argued Krishna Bhattachan, an anthropologist who leads a movement of ethnic minorities in Nepal. "One state religion has meant the dominance of one culture, one caste, and one language."

According to the Nepalese government's Central Bureau of Statistics, there are over 103 castes and ethnicities, at least 92 different languages, and over 10 different religions in Nepal.

Traditionally, people from the top two castes in the Hindu hierarchy – Brahmins (priestly caste) and Kshatriyas (warrior caste) – have shared power with the king. Even when Nepal exercised limited democracy for 12 years after 1990, most of the elected prime ministers were Brahmins. The Parliament as well as the bureaucracy has an overwhelming majority of people hailing from Brahmins and Kshatriyas castes.

While neutral observers have assured that the Parliament should not have invited trouble by dividing Nepal over religious, caste, and ethnic lines at such fluid times, leaving this question for the Constituent Assembly to decide when it drafts a new Constitution, political leaders see the move as essential in addressing many of the causes of conflict.

An overwhelming majority of Maoist rebels, who have waged a violent war for the past 10 years, belong to ethnic minorities with almost no representation in the state's decisionmaking bodies.

"The declaration has given the minorities a feeling of ownership of the state," said Raghu Ji Pant, parliamentarian and senior leader of Communist Party of Nepal–United Marxist Leninist, the biggest party in the alliance of seven democratic parties. "The declaration has also ended the Hindu hegemony which legitimized the rule of autocratic Vishnu incarnations in the country," he added.

However, Pant explained that till now no political parties have antagonized the Hindu majority of the country. "Never have the Nepalese people voted on the basis of their religious faiths. For them, political beliefs are supreme when it comes to casting votes," he said.