Nepal's Hindu's Declare Holy War
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By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Kathmandu
Monday, 18 September 2006


"Bring back the Hindu Kingdom," they shout.

It is a pattern being regularly repeated, mainly in the capital and the plains bordering India, by Hindus incensed by parliament's recent declaration that Nepal should be secular.

But at the moment, Nepal remains the world's only officially Hindu country.


'HOLY WAR'
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...Arun Subedi, chairman of the Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena Nepal--with the same name as a hardline Mumbai (Bombai)-based organisation but unconnected to it--Says secularism may worsen Hindus' relations with minority religions.

"Nepal is a Hindu country," he says. "It is the playground of god and a very holy country."

"If Nepal is not a Hindu Kingdom then there is no Nepal. We are entering into a holy war," he says, describing a Hindu scripture as his arms and ammunition.

According to official statistics, more than 80% of Nepalis are Hindu...but minorities in this multi-ethnic country and most political parties have long demanded the move to secularism.


CHANGES WELCOMED
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Bhikkhu Ananda, a Buddhist monk and lecturer in Buddhist studies, says the Hindu state grossly underplays the number of Buddhists in Nepal. He puts it at 50% rather than the official 11%.

"In this Hindu country, we are not given our due place," he says, asserting that the state broadcaster gives his faith 10 minutes a week compared with three-and-a-half hours for Hinduism.

Other religious minorities, including the tiny Christian one, also welcome the change.

Pastor KB Rokaya heads a Church which meets in a private flat because Churches are not allowed to register with the authorities. He hopes that will now change and says that more than secularism, what is needed is full religious freedom.

"I think the minority religious people will now feel they are equal citizens, not second-class citizens," he says. "It will also mean we can practice our own religion and faith more openly without fear."

For its size, Nepal is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world. Some were Hinduised relatively recently and some are discovering their pre-Hindu roots.

Krishna Bhattachan works for an umbrella organisation of 59 indigenous ethnic groups, most of which have never enjoyed much power in Nepal.

He says the Hindu state has held back democracy and development and wants secularism to be followed by removal of the monarchy and recognition for minority cultures and languages.


'IGNITED'
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Ranged against this view are many ordinary Hindus who say they feel hurt, pointing out that many countries have Islam or Christianity as a state religion and saying they cherish Nepal's unique status.

Louder are the angry Hindus, who speak with veiled threats towards religious minorities.

"In secularism it will be very difficult for them," a youth attending a rally tells The BBC. The Churches will be destroyed, the Mosques will be destroyed."

"The people who are very much [of a ] religious mind, they will spontaneously blow up these Churches and Mosques. The fight between the religious communities...is not going to stop. It has been ignited."

Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5355816.stm