Kathmandu: House of Representatives member and chair of Rastriya Janamorcha Chitra Bahadur KC has asked the government to inform the parliament regarding the alleged role and lobbying by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to reinstate Hindu state in Nepal. Speaking in the House session on Sunday, KC expressed concern regarding the United States Department of State’s report which says that BJP is lobbying to reinstate Hindu state in Nepal.
Religion is a matter of an individual’s faith, said KC. They [BJP] have not been able to declare India a Hindu state, why is India after making Nepal a Hindu state? KC questioned.
The 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom recently published by the United States Department of States has courted controversy in Nepal. The report states that India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and groups associated with it, is pressuring and funding Nepali leaders to reinstate Nepal as a Hindu state.
“Civil society leaders said influence from India’s ruling party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and other Hindu groups in India continued to pressure politicians in Nepal, particularly the RPP, to support reversion to a Hindu state,” the report said. “Civil society leaders said what they characterized as right-wing religious groups associated with the BJP in India continued to provide money to influential politicians of all parties to advocate Hindu statehood.”
Nepal’s Rastriya Prajatantra Party has taken a strong exception to this statement and written an objection letter to the US ambassador to Nepal.
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