I am a Buddhist, and I have been part of the April Revolution, even though I have been in New York City and not in Nepal. (DPACNY: The Empire Strikes Back) I was born a Hindu, I grew up a Hindu. But I became a Buddhist. I have a stake in the April Revolution.
A country can not call itself a Hindu nation and still claim to be a democracy. The state has to be secular, or it is not democratic. The state may not patronize any one religion, or any religion. But democracies provide more room for religious activities than autocracies. It is called religious freedom, and that is a human right. A Hindu in Nepal can be as Hindu as he wants to be. Nothing stops you. Go worship all day if you want, does not bother me.
But if you can only live in a Nepal that calls itself a Hindu nation, that is not a Hindu, that is a Hindu supremacist. You are saying the only way you can feel Hindu is by feeling the non-Hindus are somehow inferior to you. That is not okay. That is not something to be tolerated.
There can be no room whatsoever in the new Nepal's mainstream for Hindu supremacist thinking. Push them off to the fringes.
To defend the secular state is to defend the April Revolution, and that shall be done.
We also have to watch out for counter-revolution. The defeated royalists might be working in the background. We can not stand by watching.
We might have to organize our own rallies for religious tolerance, and religious equality. All Nepalis are equal regardless of their religious background. The Hindu supremacists are simply going to have to put up with that basic fact.
This can not be taken lightly. This riot has been the first act of counter-revolution. We have to respect the right to peaceful assembly, even that of the Hindu supremacist, but we do have to hit back politically.
We also have to organize some inter-faith dialogue. We should gather the top Hindu religious leaders and organize a conversation where we make the point that now after democracy there actually is more room for Hindus for their religious activities not less.
This riot is something to get alarmed about, but it also can be an opportunity to educate the people. The jump to a secular state has been a big one. And we have to help people adjust to the new reality. We should take that up as a challenge.
Democracy is not a small decision. It is a process. There is a lot of institution building we will have to engage in over years to fully cement the achievements of the April Revolution. We have to be realistic in terms of all the homework we still have to do.
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प्रधानमन्त्रीले घोषणा उल्लंघन गरेकामा आपत्ति
संविधानसभामा अलमल नगर्न सुझाव
वार्ता टोलीको पूर्णता आज
हिन्दु राष्ट्र घोषणा माग गर्दै प्रदर्शन
स्वास्थ्य केन्द्रमा आक्रमण
जनमतको अनादर नहोस्
लोकतन्त्रमा अपांग
शान्तिप्रतिको प्रतिबद्धता र जनयुद्धको अवतरण
प्रतिनिधिसभा घोषणा र राज्यका चुनौती
इमानदारीको पुनःस्थापना
दरबार र सेनाको खर्च घट्नेछ’
श्वेतपत्रप्रति संसद्मा असन्तोष
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6 comments:
Agree with you on this one. I am not a Budhhist but I think secularism should not and need not threaten Hindus like myself.
The "HINDU CARD" was expected to be played by Gyanendra and the Palace-Mafia.
When that doesn't work the "INDIA CARD", and God's forbid I hope we do not have another "BallyWood Riot"...
The last effort will be the King and some elements of the RNA trying to start another coup, like they did in 2001..
Democracy and stability are not at hand in Nepal.
D.Michael Van De Veer mike4radio@yahoo.com
I agree with nepal being a secular state, but i do not like your arguement at all, your article looks bais, although seems fair enough, I still dont agree with you. Anyway, kudos to you for raising the issue and kudos to all of us! Jay Nepal, Jay .. well.. Nepal!! ;)
WAS NEPAL NOT A SECULAR STATE TO BEGIN WITH? WHAT IS IN A NAME? GOD MR BHAGAT. YOU ARE ONE TWISTED MADISHEY. AND WE IN NEPAL HATE MADISHEYS (YOU CAN CHECK IT ON A JANAMAT SANGRAHA...I AM SURE YOU ALL WILL GET SENT BACK TO INDIA WHERE YOU ALL BELONG...AND THEN YOU CAN BE AS 'SECULAR' AS YOU LIKE). GOD IS IN ALL OF US. ALL ORGANISED RELIGIONS ARE NOTHING BUT FAIRY TALES COOKED UP ADULTS. WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS NOT GOOD, MR BHAGAT, DO WE NEED ANYONE TO TELL US???
Paramendradai,
It seems as if you were trying to raise the presently-hot issues from religious grounds. Although it does seem argumentatively true, I still think that Nepal is relatively much more tolerant to other religions, most notably to Buddhists. In fact, our lives are strongly affected by Buddhist traditions. We seem to be non-tolerant to muslims more than buddhists, wouldn't you agree?
However, declaring an officially hindu state might create havens for fundamentalists and troubles for others later on. So I dont know...
Personally, I refuse to be dictated by religious norms and values as much as I can.
I do not see the point of people getting mad about nepal not being only a Hindu country anymore. We really never were. Most of the Hindus these days are hindus b/c their parents told them so. I don't think it was a religion of choice, rather the religion of tradition in Nepal. You became a Hindu when you were born b/c your society told you so. I am glad that Nepal is a secular country.
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