KATHMANDU, JAN 03 – Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N) Chairman Kamal Thapa has claimed that no force can stop them from reinstating Nepal as a Hindu state.
Addressing the concluding ceremony of 10-day Mechi-Mahakali Chariot Rally in the Capital on Friday, Thapa said there will be third people’s movement if his party’s agenda of Hindu state is not incorporated in the new constitution. He claimed millions of people want to see Nepal as a Hindu state and such desire was reflected through their support to the Chariot rally.
The only mainstream Hindu party launched the rally on December 24 last year aiming to exert pressure on the government and other political parties to make the country a Hindu state.
The rally that began from Birtamod in Jhapa went to Mahakali and returned to the Capital via Pokhara and Tanahun. “Millions of people, irrespective of their political ideology, castes and religion, showed up in the procession,” Thapa said. “They are ready to hit the street if Nepal still remains secular.”
From the very beginning of its establishment in 2007, the party has been lobbying for Hindu state and monarchy. It has been demanding referendum on the two agendas.
Accusing the major political parties of advocating secularism under the influence of ‘foreign forces’, Thapa said that millions of dollars was invested to turn Nepal into a republic nation. He said if 70 countries in the world are Islamic, 40 Christian and 10 Buddhist, why Nepal with over 81 percent Hindu followers can’t be a Hindu state.
He claimed that after the country adopted secularism, there is a massive mission going on to lure innocent Hindu people into changing their religion.
In his one-hour address, the RPP-N leader invested most of his time claiming that the other parties were a failure. “The major parties must promulgate constitution by January 22. If not, a new force will take their space,” he said.
The fourth largest party in the Constituent Assembly performed a religious prayer at Pashupatinath for a formal conclusion of the rally in the evening.
Meanwhile, a minor clash erupted at Khulamanch after cadres close to the dissident faction of RPP-N, led by Padma Sundar Lawati, waved black flags to Thapa. RPP-N cadres pelted stones at the protesters, injuring at least five people. The faction has been protesting against Thapa arguing that he ran party in an autocratic way.