July 1989
Special ReportNepal Hindu Reaction
Jha, Hari Bansh
Never before have the arrests of
Christian evangelists in Nepal created so much hue and cry as have the
arrests of American David McBride and Canadian Merv Budd on the charge of
spreading Christianity unduly among the people of Nepal.
Christian
activists had letters sent on a massive scale to the Nepalese authorities
protesting the arrests. Tremendous pressure was put on His Majesty's
Government (HMG) of Nepal for their release. Christian circles objected to
the arrests on the grounds that the right to choose one's own religion and
to discuss openly matters of faith with others are fundamental freedoms
recognized by international conventions including the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Hindus support the stand of
HMG to contain the growing influence of Christianity in Nepal. Mr.
Frederick H. Gaige in his book Regionalism and National Unity in Nepal
rightly remarks, "The orthodox Hindus in both Nepal and India take
satisfaction from the fact that the King of Nepal is a Hindu and stands at
the head of the only government in the world in which Hinduism enjoys
special status."
Despite the efforts made by HMG to contain the
expansion of Christian religion in Nepal, economic and other supports
extended by Christian missionaries have helped weak and influential Hindus
alike adopt Christianity. While the law punishes the weak converts, it
proves helpless in taking actions against the strong ones.
It would
be wrong, however, to assume that the Christians have been totally
discouraged to give publicity to their religion in Nepal. Had it been so,
they would not have been so successful in increasing the Christian
population rapidly in the country. Imports of Christian literature
including the Bible are banned in Nepal. Yet the market and particularly
the Jonathan Book Store in Kathmandu is flooded with all sorts of
Christian literature.
The 1961 Nepal census reported hardly any
trace of Christians. By 1981, the Christian population was recorded as
3,891. Charles Mendis, a Christian activist in Nepal, believes the real
number to be 60,000. He claims that in the Jharland Village Panchayat of
Dhaging District alone the Christian population went from one family to
five thousand in two years.
In recent months, the district judge of
Makwanpur, Mr. Navraj Upadhyay, has sentenced 13 persons to a total of
over eight year's imprisonment for embracing Christianity. Nepal Bhoomi,
the Nepalese weekly, has confirmed that efforts are being directed on a
massive scale to propagate Christianity in the largely tribal Biratnagar
area in eastern Nepal. All of the converts have come from the Satar, Tharu
and Rajbanshi tribal communities.
The constitution of Nepal
guarantees freedom of religion. Yet the Muluki Ain of the country not only
bans the conversion of religion but also restricts Christian and Islam
religions from spreading their influence at the cost of affecting the
traditional Hindu religion of the country.
According to the
Nepalese laws, anyone attempting to convert somebody of one religion into
another is given a jail sentence of three years. One who succeeds in such
conversions is given imprisonment for six years. A Hindu found to have
converted from his religion is imprisoned for one year, and after the
completion of this punishment he has to return to his original Hindu
religion again.
Many evangelists trying to spread Christianity or
convert Hindus into Christians have been imprisoned in Nepal. According to
Mr. Mendis, as many as 201 such cases have been pending in Nepalese
courts-five against foreigners.
Nepal's Hindus are reflecting on
the failure of these laws to control Christian expansion. They've seen
that state support to Hinduism is has drawbacks. There is practically no
influential newspaper to fight for the Hindu cause. There is no effective
organization to look after the interests of Hindus. There are no orphan
centers to take care of the Hindus. All this has provided good ground to
the missionaries to spread their religion on the soil of
Nepal.
Heavy dependence of HMG on foreign aid from Christian
countries or multilateral institutions dominated by Christians will pose
difficulties in containing the influence of Christianity in Nepal in the
days to come. Hindus of Nepal can no longer remain complacent that only
the State can contain the expansion of other religions. It is high time
that Hindu organizations become active enough to defend the interests of
the Hindus in Nepal.
Personal Comments From Nepal's
Citizens
Dr. Jogendra Jha, Secretary General of the World Hindu
Federation, supported the move of HMG of Nepal for arresting the
missionaries trying to convert the Hindus into other religions. He, in
fact, demanded more strong action from the government to deal with these
unlawful people effectively.
Mrs. Usha, a housewife, opined that
there should be perfect freedom to the people to choose whatever religion
they like. She also said that in the past several women were forced to
commit Sati and burn themselves along with their husbands though they did
not want to. Religion, in the same way, should not be forced to be imposed
on anybody.
Mr. Jagat Bahadur Singh, member of the Raj Sabha (upper
house of the Nepalese parliament) and former assistant Home Minister
observed that freedom of religion should not be given in a poor Hindu
country like Nepal. He was afraid that any such freedom might help the
non-Hindu religious missionaries to convert the people with the help of
money.
Mr. Bal Krishna, a school boy, was of the view that there
should be strong opposition to any effort to convert the people from Hindu
religion to other religions.
Mr. Narendra Prasad Upadhyay, editor
of the English paper, The Telegraph Weekly of Nepal, said that any effort
on the part of the administration to loosen its grip over the evangelists
would have a catastrophic impact on the people of the Hindu country,
Nepal.
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