Two and a half centuries after the creation of “asal hindustan” as proclaimed by its initiator Prithivi Narayan Shah, Nepal was converted into a “secular federal republic” at the initiation of the descendents of the priests who helped Shah envision his “land of true Hindus”.

By declaring that the state is no more theocracy, and no longer patronizes any religion, the then interim parliament, resurrected from its grave by the same guys who sent it there with the extra accommodated honorary members, wanted to ensure that the monarchy no longer had the blessings of the gods.

For anyone who knows theocracy, knows that the source of power in such a state always stems from the blessings of the priests who claim to have direct access to supposed powers that lie beyond the realm of the rest of us mortals because the mortals believe in the priests. It was therefore not surprising when the first step that the interim parliament did when it began cutting down the powers of the monarch, was to declare that Nepal would be a secular federal republic. The monarchy got the blessings of the priests while the priests prospered under the protection and patronage of the monarchs.

And yet it is surprising how in a state that is supposed to be secular, the head of state and the government itself is actively participating in religious activities in the name of culture. It is even more ironic that the head of a government from a party that claims to adhere to the principle of religion being an opium of the masses, is today sanctioning its security forces to celebrate a religious festival, that is still related to one religion that they themselves tried to do away with. Perhaps the comrades have now realized that they might take the priest away from the religion but they cannot ever take the religion away from the priests.

No one should be barred from following the faith that they wish to. But the question here is how justifiable is it for a secular state to officially sanction celebrations of any particular religion while ignoring others? Should a secular state, if it is to call itself so, partake in any religious festivity at all? And if secularism is about equality of religions then shouldn’t all religious festivals be given equal priority, preference and patronage? Does the Nepal Army then offer gun salutes on Christmas and Id as well as god knows how many other religious festival there might be in the future?

There is nothing wrong with people believing. In fact it is important that the masses have faith and believe that there is possibly a higher power that we might be answerable to. For without the fear of accountability, humanity will lose all sense of any basic morality that keeps human society intact. At its roots all religions teach love and respect towards one another and a reverence to things beyond human understanding, that nature is so much bigger than we can comprehend. And yet restrictions to religious ideals and ritualistic dogmas also chain us to superstitions and inability to come of out that same ignorance that all religions claim to clear.

While cultural aspects of religious festivals must be respected the state should also take care that it does justice to all faiths and not just one. May all have a good win over evil. May the triumph last. Happy Dasain and Tihar to anyone reading this.

Kaziba is a Nepali who dreams of conquering the world every night, but ends up waking every morning in the same prison.


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HAPPY DASHAIN EVERYONE!