Nepal | April 19, 2024
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The Nepali Times published an article on 5 February 2024 reporting on the gathering of diverse religious groups on 3 February 2024 in Kathmandu as part of celebrations surrounding World Interfaith Harmony Week. Discussions concerned the growing religious intolerance in Nepal with a particular focus on social media:
There is growing concern that politically motivated attacks on minorities and religious intolerance in India [are] starting to spread in Nepal as well. Of late, Nepal's public sphere has seen a shift to pro-Hindu sentiments corresponding with Hindutva in India and its growing influence in Nepal. Prominent political leaders, especially from the RPP, have called for abolishing secularism from the Constitution, and the restoration of a Hindu nation.
World Watch Research analyst Rolf Zeegers points out: “All the religious leaders gathered in Kathmandu were aware of the growing (negative) influence of the success of the Hindu hardliners in neighboring India. The ever louder demands to establish a Hindu state in Nepal threaten the peaceful existence of religious minorities. When modern Nepal was founded in May 2008, the country declared itself a secular federal republic and no longer a Hindu kingdom. But ever since, Nepal’s politicians have been dragging their feet, delaying important steps. It took 7 years to write a new constitution. But even though Nepal was declared a secular country, the 2015 Constitution curbs the freedom to proselytize and convert, regarding it as a punishable offence. On 8 August 2017 the Nepalese parliament also passed anti-conversion legislation which was signed into law by the president on 16 October 2017 (CSW, 20 October 2017). So even in the secular state of Nepal there were major restrictions on the freedom of religion. Should Hindu hardliners succeed in returning Nepal to a Hindu state, it can be expected that Christians in Nepal would start facing the sort of discrimination and violence experienced by Christians in India.”
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