The secular state emerged in modern times as a response to the religious infighting that plagued Europe for centuries and put social life on a self-destructing path. The wars that were fought then because of religion posed a threat to the emerging modern Europe, underscoring the need to keep the state and religion at a very comfortable distance.
For many devout well meaning Hindus, however, the secular state is viewed as an instrument used to undermine religious heritage and culture and deny the relevance of moral teachings to public life. While this perception has an element of truth, it does not necessarily depict the general nature or principles of state secularism.
Secular states have no state religion which means that state is officially neutral in matters of religion or cultural practice, emanating from religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious belief or practice. This is not the same thing as an atheistic state where the state officially opposes all religious beliefs and practices. There is no danger of us turning into a North Korea, Former Soviet Union or even China. A secular Nepal will allow all to practice their religion and culture to their hearts content without any obstruction of any kind.
The secular state was designed to prevent organized religion from controlling public institutions; it did not necessarily aim at undermining religiosity, or alienating religious communities. Rather, it was perceived as a multi-religious society’s best defense against the imposition of the religious values and worldview of one community on another.
Separating religion and the state is usually based on three principles: neutrality of the state, freedom to exercise religion, and public powers related to religion.
In our case, such a step will naturally arouse a lot of opposition from organized Hindu groups in Nepal and India because it implies that state funding of all religious groups will come to an end. There is also a danger of a backlash from a certain group of very powerful Indians.
After a move to state secularity, all religious sites should logically become government property. In case the Nepali people thought that Pashupati belonged to the Nepalis, they are in for a big surprise. A group of priests called Pandas who hail from South India have traditionally from the time of a certain Shankhar Acharya administered the temple and its wealth - tax free and with no audit. That the high priest at Pashupati and his team are still all Indians will probably not come as new news to many Nepalis.
To hold on to their free wealth, they and their Nepalese friends will frighten Nepalis with dire consequences such as riots and killings if Nepal does not remain "the only Hindu country". They have had a strong connection with kings - they support and promote the belief that the King of a Hindu Nepal was an avatar of God Vishnu (making them all powerful to the religious Nepalis) and in return the kings allowed them to make money at Pashupati and other temples, which by some estimates is equal to the yearly development budget of Nepal. This means we would not need aid from India, US, Europe and Japan, if we could mobilize these funds. No wonder it has been so difficult to dislodge them from Pashupati. This cozy arrangement has to come to an end in a democratic Nepal.
I will leave it to other writers to talk about the ethnic minority/majority that are affected by the Hindu state and the caste system that we carry as a major drawback to our national development.
One argument that I see bandied a lot is that since the majority of the people are Hindus, Nepal should be a Hindu country. Being an educated and practicing Hindu, I like many of us Hindus do not hold the belief that Nepal should be a Hindu state just because the majority of us are Hindus (30 to 100 percent depending on who you ask). I think a lot of moderate Hindus like me would like to have a secular democratic state where we can all practice our religion and culture regardless of what it is.
Because Sajha is a community of Nepalis, a lot of propaganda is sure to surface here.
Look out Nepal, radical Hindus and dirty politicians are putting forward devious and nationalistic arguments aimed to regain or stop loosing their power and the King and his henchmen are their natural, historic allies!
