Indian Express
NEPAL, November 5, 2011 (by Yubaraj Ghimire for the Indian Express):
Nepal was declared a secular state more than five years ago, but politicians’ use of religion is still strong. On Vijayadashami day, October 6, President Ram Baran Yadav offered prasad to senior government officials and others in his office, following a practice of the monarchs before Nepal became a secular republic. A month earlier, he visited the temple of Kumari, considered a living goddess, in the capital, with Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai at his side, representing the state. Meanwhile the former king, Gyanendra, has been prevented from visiting the temple in an individual’s capacity for fears he might be awarded literally royal treatment.
The Maoist insurgency that toppled the old regime in Nepal apparently had an anti-religion component. Instances were alleged of Maoists destroying sacred murtis, setting fire to a Sanskrit library with rare manuscripts, and even killing some people observing Hindu rituals to mourn their parents.
But opposition is mounting. Some walls in public places are now painted with slogans demanding Nepal’s return to Hindu nationhood. “We will not accept secularism,” reads the common slogan coined by Rashtriya Dharma Jagaran Samiti. The Samiti has been active across the nation, supported by India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which functions in Nepal as “Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.” Meanwhile, human rights groups are lobbying for a debate in the CA–which also functions as the legislature–on a pending notice on the right to adopt a religion of choice. With the Nepalese Maoists’ stand that religion is a “personal affair,” the lobbyists hope Maoists accede.
Culture Minister Gopal Kiranti, who was responsible for the Pashupatinath temple fiasco when he attempted to appoint priests from another tradition than those who have served the temple for centuries, recently named a comrade to manage and regulate activities in the Dakshinkali temple, one of the most revered Shakti Peeths, which attracts huge crowds year round. Many see this as a step toward bringing all big temples under the party’s control and thus depriving the “Hindu Nepal” campaigners of their most effective platforms. But this is also likely to trigger a debate on the relation between religion and politics.