Nepal party demands govt to declare country as Hindu state
By Shirish B Pradhan
(Eds: Updating with fresh inputs)
Kathmandu, Feb 20 (PTI) A right-wing political party in Nepal has demanded the government to declare the country as a Hindu state by revoking the provision of secularism.
Nepal was declared a secular state in 2008 after the success of the people's movement of 2006 that saw the abolition of monarchy.
Rastriya Prajatantra Party, led by former deputy premier Kamal Thapa, in a memorandum handed to Prime Minister K P Oli demanded that Nepal should be declared a Hindu state with complete religious freedom by revoking the provision of secularism.
The party sent the memorandum to the Prime Minister through Khotang District Administration Office on Tuesday.
The party also demanded a referendum on whether to continue with federalism or not.
Hinduism is the largest religion of Nepal.
According to the 2011 census, 81.3 per cent of the Nepalese population was Hindu, 9.0 per cent was Buddhist, 4.4 per cent was Muslim, 3.0 per cent was Kiratist (indigenous ethnic religion), 1.4 per cent was Christian, 0.2 per cent was Sikhs, 0.1 per cent was Jains and 0.6 per cent followed other religions or no religion.