Sabir Khan was riding his motorbike in Parsa on Tuesday when he was stopped by several men and boys wielding sticks and saffron flags.&nbsp;
The encounter was captured on video. The men are heard forcing &nbsp;Khan to venerate the Hindu god Ram, to which he replies that he has an urgent errand up the road.&nbsp;
“I don’t care how important your errand is, you don’t get to leave without saying Jai Shri Ram,” one of the men says. Another man smacks Khan on the head.&nbsp;
The audio cuts off at this point, but Khan must have eventually agreed to the threats, because he is allowed to ride away and the men begin to chant "Jai Shri Ram" around a burning tyre on the road.&nbsp;
Such video clips have become commonplace across the border in India, but that it is happening in Nepal confirms what many had warned about: that India’s Hindutva ideology would spread to Nepal. &nbsp;
This week, there were communal clashes at Ishnath Municipality in Rautahat over a procession to immerse the idol of goddess Saraswati. The tensions spread to Birganj, where groups staged demonstrations, prompting authorities to enforce curfews. &nbsp;
Social media is awash with posts by sympathisers from across the border, many with sentiments like ‘Nepal was much more beautiful when it was not secular’, and praising Nepali activists for backing restoration of Hindu state.
“In Nepal, Hindutva as a political ideology is still nascent. Its seeds have been planted on a soil fertilised by democratic decay,” wrote Birganj-based media commentator Chandra Kishore recently in his column, Borderlines, in this paper.&nbsp;
India’s shift to far-right Hindu nationalism under Prime Minister Modi has emboldened those with a similar ideology in Nepal, and this is mixed up with a call also for the restoration of the monarchy.&nbsp;
India’s opposition parties have tried but failed to stop the juggernaut of political Hindutva. And here in Nepal, leaders across the political spectrum have done little to quell the rise of religious intolerance and extremism.&nbsp;
Instead, some parties are pushing faith-based politics to endear themselves to capitalise on what they see as an anti-secular vote bank during the next election.&nbsp;
Nepal’s avowed Maoist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal sought photo-ops clad in saffron in temples in Nepal and India. Former communist Prime Minister K P Oli attempted to provoke Hindus in Nepal and India by claiming that Lord Ram was actually born in Nepal. Nepali Congress (NC) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba expressed support for removing secularism from the Constitution during an all-party meeting last year.&nbsp;
The call to restore a Hindu nation loomed large at the NC party convention in Godavari this week (pictured). This appears to be driven by Deuba’s need to pull the rug from underneath anti-secularist forces in his own party, as well as the growing popularity of the Hindu monarchist RPP.
NC lawmaker and central committee member Shankar Bhandari used the party’s convention to launch a campaign to include the restoration of a Hindu state at the party convention.&nbsp;
In response, NC vice chair Purna Bahadur Khadka wrote in his policy proposal presented to a closed meeting of the NC: ‘The people seem to be delirious with the need to adopt populism and regress to authoritarianism.’&nbsp;
Bhandari’s proposal was rejected by the party leadership. But the NC in general and Deuba in particular have bigger fish to fry. Deuba is being challenged by not-so-young Turks like NC General Secretary Gagan Thapa, who is pushing the party to abandon its alliance with the Maoists in the next election.
Growing calls in the NC to go it alone have sent shock waves in the Maoist Centre, which is the third largest party in Parliament by a wide margin after the NC and opposition UML.
Prime Minister Dahal also faces calls from within his party about the partnership with the NC, and has been hinting that all is not well within the coalition, and that he may reshuffle the Cabinet.&nbsp;
“The Nepali Congress had no choice but to form an electoral alliance with the Maoists due to special political circumstances. But upset voters see it as an ideological contamination of our party,” Gagan Thapa told the convention. &nbsp;
For now, both Dahal and Deuba &nbsp;maintain their commitment to the coalition because a breakup would mean that the premiership-sharing deal between Dahal, Deuba, and CPN-Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal would no longer stand, preventing Deuba from being prime minister for a sixth time.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, NC General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma, who has been an ally of Gagan Thapa, differed about going it alone in the next election. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Said Sharma: “Our future electoral alliance or the lack thereof is a bridge we will cross when we get to it four years from now.”

Shristi Karki

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Unconventional convention

We all knew that the populist surge in India would impact on Nepali politics at some point, especially as the great neighbour across the open border to the south nears elections this year.&nbsp;
But the saffron that has begun to pigment the Nepal Tarai is different from India’s saffron wave. Events in India do colour Nepali politics, but it is important to make a distinction between India’s Hindu-tva and Nepal’s Hindu-ism.
India and Nepal both have Constitutions that guarantee the separation of politics and religion. However, at least in India, that has become a relic of the dim past. The lines between faith and ideology are becoming blurred.
Is the attraction to faith-based politics in Nepal affected by religio-cultural needs, or is it the political agenda of some political parties? There are different strands of Hindu right politics in Nepal, and we have to see the distinction.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/crimson-saffron-and-green">Crimson, saffron and green</a>, Chandra Kishore
The Shah dynasty that was removed after the abolition of monarchy in 2008 is attempting to ride India’s saffron wave. The irony is that it was a Centre-Left government in India at the time that pushed for Nepal to adopt a federal republican structure.
But at the people’s level, Hinduism transcends religion--it is a way of life and its concepts of tolerance (बसुधैव कुटुम्बकम ) or equity (सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिन) touch the everyday lives of communities on both sides of the border.
Hindutva politics in India is not new; it has a long history that goes back to the independence struggle against the British. But today, it has become a part of mainstream politics. It has latched on to many contradictions and regressive ideas, but has become a political ideology of the ruling party, sidelining other secular and regional parties.
However, in Nepal, Hindutva as a political ideology is still nascent. Its seeds have been planted on a soil fertilised by democratic decay. There was an attempt to push the Hindutva agenda during the 2006 People’s Movement, but it did not take root in the desiccated post-war polity. &nbsp;
Read also:<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/faith-in-tolerance"> Faith in tolerance</a>, Editorial
But today, mainstream parties (even avowed Communist ones) are competing with each other to cloak themselves in saffron. Old, new, democratic, communist, reactionary--all kinds of parties are on the bandwagon.
Even though Nepal was till recently a Hindu monarchy, religion was never overtly the basis for politics in democratic Nepal. But because the political parties post-2006 have failed so miserably to address the people’s basic needs, they wave the saffron flag to maintain their base.
To the south, Hindutva ideologues have already identified who the ‘Others’ are. India’s minorities feel they are being targeted, and those who believe in secularism have been declared enemies of the state.
Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/india-s-hindutva-politics-influencing-nepal">India’s Hindutva politics influencing Nepal</a>, Santa Gaha Magar
Some of Nepal’s parties want to use faith-based politics to turn the clock back on republicanism and inclusion while others just want to delete secularism from the Constitution. Others want federalism scrapped. It is not just domestic disillusionment that is driving this--the wind is also blowing from the south. &nbsp;&nbsp;
India’s Hindutva forces have been involved in a decades-long strategy to influence literature, Bollywood, think tanks, the mass media, and other sectors of national life. However, in Nepal, the parties that espouse Hindutva have borrowed it for political expediency, not because they actually believe in its relevance or have a clear plan. &nbsp;
Simmering discontent with secularism was fanned by India’s Hindutva forces over time to turn it into a raging blaze. The Indian Congress and regional parties appear powerless to challenge this juggernaut at the national level. Some of them have gone soft, while others have also fallen into the trap of communalism.
In Nepal, reactionaries are using faith-based politics to jumpstart their failed careers. They do not understand that this can lead to a fluid situation with unintended consequences as we have seen with recent communal tension along the Tarai.
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/religiously-following-politics">Religiously following politics</a>, Chandra Kishore
The same social media symbols and tropes that are being pushed in India are also being spread in Nepal. In India, there is just the BJP that is the locomotive of Hindutva, but in Nepal it is every opportunistic party either in the fringes or mainstream. And they are all competing with each other to be more saffron.
Even the RPP and king Gyanendra have not been able to prove themselves as the main driving force. Which is why the secular parties are sanguine that Hindutva ideology does not have widespread support. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
But it is essential to sort out whether Hindutva is just using Nepal’s open and pluralistic politics, or if it really has a larger following. There is an attempt at historical revisionism, and to a certain extent it is impacted by regional political alignments in India. &nbsp;
Whatever happens during India’s election year, Nepal’s politics has its own dynamics even if it may echo slogans heard from across the border. But this is a train they are climbing on to without knowing which way it is headed. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/long-leave-the-king">Long leave the King</a>, Alisha Sijapati
Chandra Kishore is a Birganj-based media commentator and writes this monthly column Borderlines for Nepali Times.
@kishore_chandra

Chandra Kishore

The south wind blows

Twenty-eight years after the Maoist party launched an armed struggle to overhaul Nepal’s centralised state, remove exploitation, exclusion and usher in an era of justice and equality, the former Maoist supremo is prime minister for the third time with a former arch enemy as his main coalition partner. It has been 18 years since the Comprehensive Peace Accord that promised a new political order and transitional justice. &nbsp;
Even former Maoist guerrillas now admit their sacrifice and pain were in vain. Most Nepalis agree. The main outcome of the war and death of 17,000 Nepalis and trauma of countless others was the federal, secular, republican Constitution of 2015.&nbsp;
Now, that very Constitution which came about after much bloodshed is being challenged by retrogressive forces that want to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Using populism, whipped up pseudo-nationalism and a weaponised social web, they are bent on dismantling devolution and democracy even before it has been allowed to fully function. Instead of throwing out rotten leaders, they want to replace the barrel.&nbsp;
There have been similar hankerings for strongman rule in world history that have inevitably led to disaster. What feeds demagogic rhetoric is the chronic failure of representative democracy to produce accountable government to deliver development and betterment. The antidote to a malfunctioning democracy is to fix its shortcomings.&nbsp;
Young Nepalis are expressing their discontent with protest votes for populist parties. Monarchists sense the time is ripe to take advantage of popular frustration, and are starting the new year with nationwide rallies to call for the restoration of a Hindu kingdom and scrapping federalism.
India’s general election in 2024 and the ruling BJP’s Hindutva agenda is infecting Nepali politics. Besides everything else we import from India, we are also importing its communal intolerance. &nbsp;
Nepal’s political system need not be remodelled every time there is regime change in New Delhi.
<h2>Modifying India</h2>
After the defeat of the Indian Congress in state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems a foregone conclusion. His cult of personality took 10 years to build, and despite policy blunders that cost people their savings (demonetisation) and lives (Covid closedowns) he is more popular than ever. The BJP with its allies now control 16 of India’s 29 states, reversing the grand Indian tradition of incumbents losing elections.
The BJP’s systemic targeting of minorities and almost complete control of media messaging galvanised support in the Cow Belt. But Modi is also reaping political dividend from an economy galloping at 7.6% a year. Impressive new infrastructure projects and moon landings gave Indians justifiable pride in 2023 in their country’s achievements.
Why then does the BJP have to still rely on toxic communalism, bigotry, and violence against India’s minority religions? This is especially inscrutable given that there are millions of Indians working in the Gulf.&nbsp;
Domestically, India is now sliced along a north-south ideological axis. Populist authoritarianism in India exploits opposition disarray, as elsewhere. One reason for its setbacks in state elections was that the Congress was over-confident, and rejected alliances with regional parties.&nbsp;
India is a Subcontinent, not just a country and is the most populous in the world. It is also the world’s biggest arms importer, and a weakened West thinks it needs India to confront China. An enemy of an enemy is a friend, so criticism of Modi is muted.
India’s strong gravitational tug impacts all neighbouring countries. A stronger Modi may not necessarily be bad for Nepal, since he may be less inclined to flex his muscles and play the Hindutva card. Or maybe he still will. We will see in 2024.
<h2>Trumping America</h2>
The world’s two most established democracies drifting towards authoritarianism does not bode well for the rest of the world. A second Trump term in 2024 will have consequences for the global order as well as the planet.
America’s support for human rights, democracy and press freedom around the world sound hollow given a domestic political mess of its own making. Even under Biden, America’s standing in 2023 was tarnished by his carte blanche support for Israel’s war machine in Gaza where nearly 21,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children.&nbsp;
With its military and economic might the US still has a global reach. It also has a crucial voice in reducing climate risk.&nbsp;
America’s obsession with a rising China and its Indo-Pacific strategy complicates Nepal’s precarious geopolitical balancing act between its two giant neighbours. The yam has a third boulder to contend with.
<h2>World wars</h2>
Israel’s atrocities in Gaza have overshadowed other world wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria. Because Nepalis are now spread out across the world, they tend to get caught up in almost every conflict.&nbsp;
Ten Nepalis were killed by Hamas on 7 October, and one is still believed to be held hostage. At least 7 Nepali soldiers in the Russian Army have been killed in Ukraine. Four are prisoners of war in Ukraine, and there are some Nepalis also fighting for the Ukrainians.
Despite immigration restrictions, the Nepal government is not able to stop its nationals from going to work in dangerous places. The only medium-term solution to this is to launch a bold campaign to boost investment and provide meaningful employment in Nepal itself.&nbsp;
This is what Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s address to the nation this week on the first anniversary of assuming office should have announced. Instead, we got more platitude and excuses for another lost year.

Year of reckoning

As the most populous country in the world, India’s democracy is tangled up in politics, religion, and the economy ahead of next year’s elections.&nbsp; India’s mainstream media has equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with prosperity, and a majority of the public in north India seems to buy that line. Indeed, India’s GDP has grown by 6.3% over the past nine years since Modi took office, its annual economic growth rate is the envy of the world. But the Modi government is also accused of strategically promoting crony capitalism, systematically tolerating attacks on minorities, and controlling the mass media. All this is already beginning to have a profound impact on Nepal’s own polity, with parties espousing Modi-style Hindutva becoming more vocal, their call for restoring the Hindu state sitting uneasily with the demands to also bring back the monarchy.&nbsp; This trip by a Nepali journalist across the stronghold of the Modi government ahead of the 2024 general election and coinciding with the Kanvar Yatra revealed both faith-driven politics as well as deep misgivings about India straying from its secular path. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/news/india-s-hindutva-politics-influencing-nepal">India’s Hindutva politics influencing Nepal</a>, Santa Gaha Magar The Himalayan state of Uttarakhand was busy with the annual Bol Bom pilgrimage with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walking to the source of the Ganga to collect its holy water for their own local Shiva shrines. Along a stretch of highway, devotees wore t-shirts emblazoned with the symbol Om as they ordered meals at a dhawa eatery. Their motorcycles were festooned in saffron flags with images of Hanuman. Unsurprisingly, they were vocal in their support for the Hindu nationalist BJP, their religious devotion having translated into political preference to strongly identify with Hindutva. “India should be a Hindu country and protect its religion and culture. After all, there are one too many Christian and Muslim nations in the world,” said one young pilgrim. At a tea shop in Rishikesh, devotees praised Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for their commitment to promoting Hindutva.&nbsp; “India has become a better place with Modi cracking down on crime and corruption,” affirmed one devotee in saffron attire. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/red-to-saffron">RED to SAFFRON</a>, Shristi Karki  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230809110836_091ee141dcb1c1f3655680b9b81b9bede9ffb1844d56aa33bbdb91c3bf17b0d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20230809110836_091ee141dcb1c1f3655680b9b81b9bede9ffb1844d56aa33bbdb91c3bf17b0d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="2000" height="1333" loading="lazy" alt="India’s faith in politics NT"> </figure>  A group at a table lectured a visiting Nepali about how India needed a strongman with the “correct” ideology that asserted India’s greatness on the world stage. They credited Modi for giving India international recognition and respect it did not have before. The highways to Rishikesh were ablaze in saffron banners and posters of Modi and Yogi Adityanath on walls of highway bridges and the backs of buses. The roads were packed with convoys of trucks with loudspeakers belting out devotional music to which the pilgrims danced. In between, there were also songs exhorting people to vote for the BJP in next year’s elections. The BJP has tried to brand itself as the protector of Hinduism, facilitating, amplifying and even radicalising their beliefs. Bol Bom pilgrims looked visibly uncomfortable when asked about the attacks on Muslims across Northern India. Most dismissed the question entirely, with some suspicious about that line of questioning. We also tried to gauge the political pulse of the general public away from the religious processions. What did India’s Dalits and Muslims think of Modi and his saffronification of politics? &nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-pm-to-india-to-reboot-ties">Nepal PM to India to reboot ties</a>, Chandra Kishore Even Indians who do not identify with Hindutva politics are Modi fans because they credit his two terms since 2014 as being the reason for India’s rapid economic growth. A businessman from Gurgaon who runs an export business in India and Nepal praised Modi’s leadership for business expansion, providing better loan schemes for startups, and attracting foreign investment. Even so, while Cyber City Gurgaon or Noida on the outskirts of New Delhi offer glimpses of prosperity, the rural reality for much of the population is a different story. “I feel cheated, Modi did not deliver on his promises,” said a bookstore owner in Delhi, explaining that an increase in GDP didn't necessarily translate into higher living standards for many. Along the pavement near Delhi’s railway station are rows and rows of homeless. Unemployment is still high, and young men injected themselves with drugs in the shadows of underpasses of the capital and ghettos near Jame Masjid. The world’s largest democracy may have elected this prime minister, but his party has used populism, fear-mongering and censorship to consolidate its support. But no one dares to speak out for fear of retribution. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-end-of-ideology-in-nepal">The end of ideology in Nepal</a> “If you point a finger against Modi, they will raid your home,” said the bookstore owner in a hushed tone. He voted for Modi’s BJP in 2014 and 2019, but says he is unlikely to do so in 2024 because he does not want to live in this state of fear. Media critics like journalist Ravish Kumar face constant harassment and death threats from government supporters. Adani Group buying out NDTV is viewed as a further move against the last remaining democratic voices. “No media channel is critical of the government,” said another interlocutor. It is an indication of the pervasive paranoia that none of the critics of the BJP wanted their name used. “The media is used for hate speech against minorities, to distract attention from the real problems, and to glorify India’s Hindu past and its future.”&nbsp; One has to turn to social media to find out the truth about lynchings, bulldozing of Muslim neighbourhoods or attacks on holy sites. The mainstream media either does not mention those attacks, or provides a distorted account. It is easy to be impressed with India’s impressive investment in infrastructure, the gleaming towers in its cities and the traffic jams on its roads. India might have taken a step forward in economic growth, but its democracy has taken two steps back. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/religiously-following-politics">Religiously following politics</a>, Chandra Kishore

India’s faith in politics

In addition to the many commodities India exports to Nepal, it is now also sending across its brand of Hindutva politics.&nbsp;
Journalists at an interaction in Kathmandu on Wednesday expressed reservations about how the nationalistic Hindutva ideology of India’s ruling BJP was influencing Nepali politics as well.&nbsp;
The 'Hindutva politics and Indian-Nepali Media’ interaction was organised by Free Press Nepal with its editor JB Pun Magar moderating a panel that included Deshsanchar editor Yubaraj Ghimire and journalist-author Kanak Mani Dixit.
The speakers said Hindutva had historically disrupted communal harmony and encouraged religious and political extremism in secular India, saying that its proliferation across the open border into Nepal was “alarming”.&nbsp;
Ghimire explained that the Hindutva ideology applied the Hindu faith in politics and rejected the concept of secularism. Hindutva became part of Indian socio-politics with the establishment of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925.&nbsp;
In 1951, the RSS established the Bharatiya Jana Sangh as its political wing to expand its right-wing, Hindu nationalist ideology to mainstream politics. The Jana Sangh broke off and merged with other parties, and an iteration became the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, having carried over much of the original rank and file into the new political collective.&nbsp;
The BJP established itself as an influential political party after the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by leaders of the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 1992. The party cemented itself as a mainstay in mainstream politics after Narendra Modi, a former full-time member of the RSS, became Prime Minister of India in 2014, and his re-election in 2019.
Meanwhile, in Nepal, parties like the royalist-right Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have long called for the abolishment of secularism and the re-establishment of Nepal as a Hindu state.&nbsp;
The RPP was considerably weakened after Kamal Thapa split and established his own RPP-N which was not for a restoration of the monarchy but backed the demand for a Hindu state.
The party itself has gone through periods of the Nepali public taking its ideology with various degrees of seriousness. Nepal’s public sphere, disillusioned with secular-republican politicians, has seen a shift to pro-Hindu and sometimes monarchist public discourse corresponding with Hindutva in India. And Nepal’s political leadership and aspirants have taken notice.
Political experts and analysts have said that Nepal’s Communist Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal himself is trying to endear himself to India’s leadership by visiting Hindu temples in India and Nepal, while India is using Nepal’s political leadership to control national affairs.&nbsp;
Dixit, founding editor of Himal Southasian, said Hindutva politics was giving continuity to long-running interference of the Indian establishment in Nepal’s affairs.&nbsp;
“To understand Nepal’s Hindutva politics, we must go back and study India’s interventions in Nepal since 1951,” said Dixit, noting that Delhi’s involvement can be seen ever since the fall of the Rana regime.
“At present, the effects of Hindutva intervention can be seen in our water resources and aviation sectors,” he added.&nbsp;
Dixit described the increasing effect of Hindutva in Nepali politics as a “clear and present danger”.
He added, “Indian intervention is the elephant in the room that we refuse to address instead we focus on other mice in the corner.”&nbsp;
Ghimire also delved into how India’s governing party has had an impact on Nepal’s rulers by questioning the visits to the offices of the BJP by Prime Minister Dahal and his predecessor Sher Bahadur Deuba during their official visits to India.
"Why was there a need to call on a specific party’s office during a state visit?” asked Ghimire rhetorically.
Dixit said Nepal’s media had yet to report on how Foreign Minister NP Saud’s wife is the vice-president of the Nepal chapter of the Hindu advocacy group World Hindu Federation. He said such gaps in coverage showed that the media is itself being influenced by the Hindutva ideology.&nbsp;
“The RSS does not interfere in Nepal’s affairs in a way that is visible, but I know that Nepal’s political leadership has welcomed its representative in Nepal without exception and with open arms,” said Ghimire in an answer to a question from the floor.&nbsp;
Former Kantipur editor Sudheer Sharma also had a question to the panel on the objectives of the RSS in Nepal. Ghimire answered that the organisation wants to spread its worldview and ideology to countries outside India.&nbsp;
“In Nepal, the organisation wants people to learn not about Prithivi Narayan Shah, but about Shivaji Maharaj,” Ghimire said, referring to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ,a 17th-century Indian sovereign idolised and celebrated by the RSS as a ruler who defended his Hindu empire from invasion.&nbsp;
Disillusionment with Nepal’s three mainstream parties manifested in the rise of the independent RSP, while the RPP is trying to ride the Hindutva wave to back Nepal reverting to being a Hindu state.&nbsp;
Even leaders thought to be progressive like former BBC Nepali Service journalist Rabindra Mishra have called for a referendum on secularism, leaving his Bibeksheel Sahja Party to join the RPP.
Ghimire concluded, “We must learn from India’s secularism. If we do not want what is happening in India’s socio-politics to impact Nepal, we must carefully study their weaknesses and where they have gone wrong so that we might avoid the same mistakes here.”

India’s Hindutva politics influencing Nepal

<figure><img width="1750" height="919" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114091156/6372033d9c7e80680e0b27f9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption></figcaption></figure>The Election Commission has set local elections for May, with federal elections following early next year. Given the heated debate about federalism and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/secularism-and-sectarianism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">secularism</a> the polls will be a referendum on those two issues. In 2017, Nepal held sub-national elections after 20 years. Those ward, municipal  and provincial representatives were pushed into uncharted territory, and coped the best they could. The hope was that locally-elected leaders would demonstrate more accountability than their national-level counterparts.Indeed, some ward and municipal chairs <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/women-leaders-set-example-for-rest-of-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">performed exceptionally well</a>. But many mayors are <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/Elected-contractors,4182" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">contractors</a>, and are involved in blatant malfeasance. Political devolution has decentralised corruption as well. News reports about Bagmati Province’s bloated ministries as well as the provincial governments just being reflections of the power balance in Kathmandu have given federalism a bad name. Which is why some political leaders want federalism scrapped. Local elections this year is a chance to set things right. All politics is local – or should be. And we have seen since 1990 in Nepal that decentralised political decision-making is the best way to govern.However, there are indications the polls will be a dirty political game where politicians devoid of ideology stoke <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/from-the-nepali-press/back-to/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">religious fervour </a>to get votes. This is dangerous, it will polarise and destabilise Nepali society.  This requires vigilance from voters who must vet candidates and cast their ballots for those who are more likely to address their most urgent needs like health, education, jobs and a streamlined administration – and not fall for extremist slogans.We need to make sure that the people at the local level, especially those who have been excluded till now in decision-making, benefit the most from federalism. Given Nepal’s diversity in ethnicity and religion, a prosperous and democratic society is not possible without the stability that secularism  guarantees. Going by the general conventions of the major parties over the last months, it looks like secularism, restoration of the monarchy and federalism will dominate the upcoming polls. <a style="font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/battle-lines-drawn-for-nepal-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rajendra Lingden’s resounding win</a> over Kamal Thapa as the leader of the RPP means that the party will be even more aggressive in promoting the royal-Hindu line. Even self-proclaimed democratic and progressive parties that stood for alternative politics like Bibeksheel Sajha are falling back on religion and monarchy to gain popular votes.  Republicanism, federalism and secularism became the main pillars of the Constitution that was drafted after two elections following the People’s Movement of 2006. Remove any one of these three pillars and the country could be pushed back to instability. Some of the very leaders who once played a key role in writing that Constitution, like Shashank Koirala and Shekhar Koirala of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC), are in favour of a Hindu state. The main opposition UML’s K P Oli has himself been dabbling in religion. An eager gathering of former prime ministers at a recent reception for Indian guru Baba Ramdev in Kathmandu in November also showed that political leaders across the spectrum recognise the power of religion in vote mobilisation. Much of this is due to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/a-yam-between-two-indias/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gravitational pull that India exerts on Nepal</a>. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has actively used Hindu nationalism to stay on in power, and he has made no secret of his desire for Nepal to revert being a Hindu state. In Nepal, some leaders are deliberately bending the definition of ‘secularism’ to mean ‘anti-faith’ to disrupt Nepal’s long-standing religious harmony and tap the majoritarian vote bank. In her article Shaping Secularism in Nepal on European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, Chiara Letizia says that secularism in Nepal will be determined by how the Hindu majority is addressed: ‘Nepal is a post-secular laboratory, where the state’s policy must walk a tightrope, upholding ‘absolute’ secular values such as equal citizenship, and yet balancing the Hindu majority tradition, Hindu fears, and the claims of minorities for social, political and religious recognition.’Rajeev Bhargava, a political theorist who has studied India's secularism, suggests a principled stand for <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/separation-of-state-and-temple-in-nepal,1444" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">secularism</a> in countries like India and Nepal which are ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse. The state should give equal respect to all religions, but can also push universal values of tolerance and human rights.The test of a true democracy is how well it treats its minorities. Following secularism in letter and spirit makes such tolerance possible, and having it enshrined in the Constitution is not enough. It should be followed in practice. Indian historian Bipan Chandra in his 2008 book Communalism: A Primer analyses how the anti-secularism spread: ‘Communalists call themselves good nationalists and communalism as nationalism. Therefore, the good fight against communalism must be fought on the same ground of nationalism.’To prevent Nepal from falling into the same trap and keep our democracy vibrant and inclusive, we must use upcoming elections to eschew parties that espouse majoritarianism, exclusion and division.At the very least Nepal’s political leaders must adhere to <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/by-the-way/new-constitution-should-adopt-inclusive-democracy-with-federalism-republicanism-secularism,538" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">values enshrined in the Constitution</a> as their true ‘religion’.Rabin Giri

Volatile Mix of Politics and Religion

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181140/636be61e9c7e80680e08778ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="480"/><figcaption>Photo: @KTnepal</figcaption></figure>Loyal readers will remember royal leaders we have covered in these pages over the past two decades. The uneasy transition to constitutional monarchy post-1990, the conflict, the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/royal-massacre-Nepal-15-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">palace massacre</a> of 2001, the attempt by King Gyanendra to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14835#.X8c51S2B0b1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeat his father’s coup</a> in 2005, and finally the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nepal-from-royal-to-republic,3736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">abolition of the monarchy</a> in 2008.History keeps repeating itself in Nepal. And once again, we are coming full circle with street demonstrations in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/saffron-surge-politics,3619" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">support of a return to monarchy and a Hindu state</a>.It is significant that the rallies are happening in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of King Mahendra’s putsch against Nepal’s first democratically elected government led by Prime Minister B P Koirala on 15 December 1960.The current series of protests began in Butwal last month, and moved around the country with a rally in Kathmandu on Monday. They were organised by disparate groups, with tacit support from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).The RPP had not, till now, openly joined the demonstrations. That would have been odd because the demonstrators had called for an end to federalism, and the RPP has one seat in the Federal Parliament. But it has now asked party members to show up for rallies planned for 4 and 5 December in Hetauda and Jhapa, which will see addresses by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/Advantage,277" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RPP leaders like Kamal Thapa</a>, Prakash C Lohani and Pashupati Shumsher Rana.There is speculation about why royalists and the Hindu-right have chosen this particular time for a show of force. Obviously, they see an opening in the political space – the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/outside-looking-in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mired in endless infighting</a>, and the main opposition Nepali Congress is leaderless and rudderless.The RPP emerged as the fourth-largest party after the UML, NC and the Maoists in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, and the party leaders quite rightly seem to surmise that since the other parties have had their chance in government multiple times and squandered their mandate, their time has come.RPP rallies this past month have been well-attended, even though the public is not spontaneously joining in on the flag-waving in large numbers, as the organisers claim. Even so, the crowds represent disillusionment with the past two-and-half years of NCP misrule, factionalism, corruption and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-ruling-party-feud-affecting-covid-19-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poor management of the Covid-19 crisis</a>.The main demands of the demonstrators have been the restoration of the monarchy, and scrapping provisions in the 2015 Constitution that turned Nepal into a federal, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3644#.X8c5zi2B0b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">secular republic</a>. Past public opinion polls by this paper have shown that while there is not much mass support for a re-thronement of King Gyanendra, there is a sizeable component of the population that is for Nepal becoming a Hindu state again.In a way, the RPP is testing the waters to see if a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2017/03/22/southerly-wind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hindu monarchy</a> can be a viable electoral plank for the next federal and local elections in 2022. Enthused by the unexpected numbers at rallies, the party is now openly leading a street campaign to stoke populist passions at a time when the NCP and NC are both distracted by their internal squabbles. The RPP believes it can end the current anarchy with a stable monarchy.It’s not that the RPP is not faction-ridden like the rest, it has had frequent splits and reunifications over the past 10 years. There has been tension between those who want Nepal to only become a Hindu state but are not as enthusiastic about the monarchy, and others who want both.In September, this led Sunil Thapa, son of five-time Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, to defect from the RPP to the NC. RPP leader Kamal Thapa has himself been lukewarm towards monarchy, but now favours a ceremonial or constitutional kingship.The other overarching issue is disenchantment with democracy itself, and the argument that a visionary charismatic leader is better than the current cabal under a western-style parliamentary system. Lending force to this argument is the erosion of democratic values under <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/modi-india-politics,872" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prime Minister Modi in India</a>, as well as China’s rising economic and political clout. This coincides with the weakening of the West, which had till recently been giving powerful backing for democracy, press freedom, human rights and secularism.Whatever happens in India has a gravitational pull in Nepal, and the BJP’s Hindu-right ideology could be another factor that has emboldened the RPP. Some rally organisers in Nepal are groups that seem to be offshoots of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/After-Adityanath,3617" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hindutva elements across the border</a>. However, this convergence has its limits since at some point India’s Hindu juggernaut would collide with RPP’s ultra-nationalist platform.Even as the ruling NCP’s infighting gets more heated, however, the ruling party may be saved from a split because of the RPP’s activism. There is nothing like a common outside enemy to unite a party. Unwittingly, Kamal Thapa may be giving his old coalition colleague K P Oli some breathing space.

Nepal party reincarnating Hindu monarchy

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/2022110919118/636bed404b0ad905ca02eed3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="720" height="480"/><figcaption>Photo: @KTnepal</figcaption></figure>Loyal readers will remember royal leaders we have covered in these pages over the past two decades. The uneasy transition to constitutional monarchy post-1990, the conflict, the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/royal-massacre-Nepal-15-years-later" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">palace massacre</a> of 2001, the attempt by King Gyanendra to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=14835#.X8c51S2B0b1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">repeat his father’s coup</a> in 2005, and finally the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/nepal-from-royal-to-republic,3736" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">abolition of the monarchy</a> in 2008.History keeps repeating itself in Nepal. And once again, we are coming full circle with street demonstrations in <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/saffron-surge-politics,3619" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">support of a return to monarchy and a Hindu state</a>.It is significant that the rallies are happening in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of King Mahendra’s putsch against Nepal’s first democratically elected government led by Prime Minister B P Koirala on 15 December 1960.The current series of protests began in Butwal last month, and moved around the country with a rally in Kathmandu on Monday. They were organised by disparate groups, with tacit support from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).The RPP had not, till now, openly joined the demonstrations. That would have been odd because the demonstrators had called for an end to federalism, and the RPP has one seat in the Federal Parliament. But it has now asked party members to show up for rallies planned for 4 and 5 December in Hetauda and Jhapa, which will see addresses by <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/interview/Advantage,277" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">RPP leaders like Kamal Thapa</a>, Prakash C Lohani and Pashupati Shumsher Rana.There is speculation about why royalists and the Hindu-right have chosen this particular time for a show of force. Obviously, they see an opening in the political space – the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/outside-looking-in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">mired in endless infighting</a>, and the main opposition Nepali Congress is leaderless and rudderless.The RPP emerged as the fourth-largest party after the UML, NC and the Maoists in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, and the party leaders quite rightly seem to surmise that since the other parties have had their chance in government multiple times and squandered their mandate, their time has come.RPP rallies this past month have been well-attended, even though the public is not spontaneously joining in on the flag-waving in large numbers, as the organisers claim. Even so, the crowds represent disillusionment with the past two-and-half years of NCP misrule, factionalism, corruption and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-ruling-party-feud-affecting-covid-19-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">poor management of the Covid-19 crisis</a>.The main demands of the demonstrators have been the restoration of the monarchy, and scrapping provisions in the 2015 Constitution that turned Nepal into a federal, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=3644#.X8c5zi2B0b0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">secular republic</a>. Past public opinion polls by this paper have shown that while there is not much mass support for a re-thronement of King Gyanendra, there is a sizeable component of the population that is for Nepal becoming a Hindu state again.In a way, the RPP is testing the waters to see if a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/blogs/kundadixit/2017/03/22/southerly-wind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hindu monarchy</a> can be a viable electoral plank for the next federal and local elections in 2022. Enthused by the unexpected numbers at rallies, the party is now openly leading a street campaign to stoke populist passions at a time when the NCP and NC are both distracted by their internal squabbles. The RPP believes it can end the current anarchy with a stable monarchy.It’s not that the RPP is not faction-ridden like the rest, it has had frequent splits and reunifications over the past 10 years. There has been tension between those who want Nepal to only become a Hindu state but are not as enthusiastic about the monarchy, and others who want both.In September, this led Sunil Thapa, son of five-time Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, to defect from the RPP to the NC. RPP leader Kamal Thapa has himself been lukewarm towards monarchy, but now favours a ceremonial or constitutional kingship.The other overarching issue is disenchantment with democracy itself, and the argument that a visionary charismatic leader is better than the current cabal under a western-style parliamentary system. Lending force to this argument is the erosion of democratic values under <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/guest-editorial/modi-india-politics,872" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prime Minister Modi in India</a>, as well as China’s rising economic and political clout. This coincides with the weakening of the West, which had till recently been giving powerful backing for democracy, press freedom, human rights and secularism.Whatever happens in India has a gravitational pull in Nepal, and the BJP’s Hindu-right ideology could be another factor that has emboldened the RPP. Some rally organisers in Nepal are groups that seem to be offshoots of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/from-nepali-press/After-Adityanath,3617" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hindutva elements across the border</a>. However, this convergence has its limits since at some point India’s Hindu juggernaut would collide with RPP’s ultra-nationalist platform.Even as the ruling NCP’s infighting gets more heated, however, the ruling party may be saved from a split because of the RPP’s activism. There is nothing like a common outside enemy to unite a party. Unwittingly, Kamal Thapa may be giving his old coalition colleague K P Oli some breathing space.