there was not much religious violence under Saddam Hussein. at least we didn't hear about the Sunnis and Shiites fighting it out. Now that Saddam Hussein is gone, people are exploiting religious sentiments. sectarian violence is on the rise in Iraq. Why not reinstate Saddam Hussein to bring peace to Iraq? Yeah why not bring back "Hindu Nepal" to avert the rise of future religious violence in Nepal? What kind of fuzzy logic is this? And this is the logic being espoused by the many supporters of "Hindu State" on this sajha thread! Secularism per se doesn't create violence; Hindu fundamentalism does, but Hindu fundamentalists are eager to blame it all on secularism. Secularism's being made a punching bag here. Their argument that "Hindu state" will avert religious violence is fallacious. Hell, it sure as hell was not able to avert Mr. Narayan Pokharel's murder allegedly by Hindu fundamentalists. Secularism doesn't pose any threats to Hinduism. It is not going to uproot Hinduism. Well, it will certainly put Hinduism on an equal footing with other religions in the eye of law and the state. And this is good news. But Hindu fundamentalists don't want this, which goes onto show that they are really religious bigots and supremacists in disguise! The problem with the many Hindu fundamentalists is that even as they argue that under Hindu Nepal, there had been religiuos harmony (which is, of course, all hogwash) they are keen to bash Christian missionaries. Just read about their Christian bashing in other threads of Sajha. These guys are hypocrites - while championing "Hindu state" as fostering religiuos harmony, they are increasingly being hostile toward Christian missionaries. There is no doubt that Nepali Hindus are playing right into the hands of the India-based Hindu fundamentalist orgs and parties (who think Nepal is their "pewa") and their stooges (eg Bharat Keshari Simha, Sachhit Shumsher Rana, and the palace wallahs). Any wonder the protests in Birgunj were fomented by a few hardcore royalists (and Hindu fundamentalists from across the border) who have since been exposed by the local papers!!!