View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OTHES DIPLOMARBEIT Titel der Diplomarbeit “Himalayan Hindutva - Hindu Nationalism and the Harmony of Religions in Secular Nepal” Verfasserin Maija Karoliina Liuhto angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. Phil.) Wien, 2012 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 307 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Kultur- und Sozial Anthropologie Betreuer: Univ. –Prof. Dr. Martin Gaenszle Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me throughout this research project, especially my supervisor Martin Gaenszle. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Mrigendra Bahadur Karki from the Center of Nepalese and Asian Studies at the Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. I am also grateful to Meghraj Prakash Sahani for helping me in arranging interviews with various organizations and community leaders in Birgunj and for providing help in translating my interviews into Hindi. Last but not least, I would also like to thank all my interviewees for patiently answering all my questions. The field research in Nepal was funded by a KWA-Scholarship, awarded by the University of Vienna. i Contents I. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... v II. Analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 14 1. History ...................................................................................................................................... 14 1.1. History of Hindutva .......................................................................................................... 14 1.1.1. Arya Samaj ................................................................................................................ 14 1.1.2. The Hindu Mahasabha and V.D. Savarkar ................................................................ 16 1.1.3. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Sangh Parivar ............................................ 19 1.1.4. Hindutva’s Rise to Political Mainstream .................................................................. 22 1.2. Hindu Nationalism in Nepal ............................................................................................. 24 1.2.1. Prithvi Narayan Shah and the asali Hindustan ......................................................... 24 1.2.2. The Ranas and the Muluki Ain .................................................................................. 27 1.2.3. The Panchayat Era and the Turn Towards Hindutva ................................................ 30 1.2.4. From the People’s Movement to a People’s War ...................................................... 34 1.2.5. Towards the End of Monarchy .................................................................................. 37 1.2.6. Exclusion and Inter-religious Harmony .................................................................... 41 2. The Reaction ............................................................................................................................. 45 2.1. Saffron Backlash ............................................................................................................... 45 2.1.1. Hindu Demonstrations in Nepal ................................................................................ 45 2.1.2. The Sangh Parivar across the Border ........................................................................ 48 2.1.3. Bomb Blasts and Violent Attacks ............................................................................. 50 2.2. Rhetorical Tactics of the Hindu Right .............................................................................. 55 2.2.1 Hindu Rashtra as the Reason for Religious Harmony .............................................. 55 2.2.2 Nepalese Secularism as Conspiracy .......................................................................... 59 2.3. Political Mobilization ........................................................................................................ 66 2.3.1. A Hindu Andolan ...................................................................................................... 66 2.3.2. The King, Democracy and Political Pragmatism ...................................................... 69 2.3.3. Madheshi Movement and the Sangh Parivar ............................................................ 75 3. The Threat ................................................................................................................................. 82 3.1. Stigmatization and Emulation ........................................................................................... 82 ii 3.1.1. The Enemy and Hindu Victimization in Hindutva Propaganda ................................ 82 3.1.2. The Christian Threat ................................................................................................. 87 3.1.3. The Muslim Threat .................................................................................................... 93 3.1.4. Creating a United “Hindudom” in Nepal .................................................................. 97 III. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 103 iii List of Abbreviations BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party CA: Constituent Assembly CPN-(Maoist): Communist Party of Nepal, (Maoist) CPN-UML: Communist Party of Nepal, United Marxist Leninist (See also, UML) HSS: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh ISI: Inter-Services Intelligence JTMM: Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha MJF: Madheshi Janadhikar Forum MNLF: Madheshi National Liberation Front MP: Member of Parliament NDA: Nepal Defence Army NGO: Non-Governmental Organization OBC: Other Backward Class PADT: Pashupati Area Development Trust RPP: Rashtriya Prajatantra Party RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SPA: Seven Party Alliance UCPN-M: Unified Communist Party of Nepal, Maoist UML: Communist Party of Nepal, United Marxist Leninist UP: Uttar Pradesh VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad WHF: World Hindu Federation iv I. Introduction Nepal has previously not been associated with radical, militant Hindu nationalist groups, unlike its neighbor India where the rise of the Hindu right to mainstream politics has been much discussed ever since the late 1980s and early 90s. However, after the developments that led to the end of King Gyanendra’s short authoritarian rule and a peace agreement with the Maoist insurgents following a ten-year-long civil war in 2006, Nepal suddenly witnessed the emergence of these forces into the public arena. These Hindu nationalist groups were reacting to a declaration made by the interim government that changed Nepal from a Hindu Kingdom first into a secular constitutional monarchy and later in 2008 into a secular republic. Ever since 2006, groups supporting a return to a Hindu kingdom or nation have been arranging protest marches and threatening a change into the relatively peaceful inter-religious relations of the country. This thesis examines the reactions these groups have had to secularism and how the present situation can be expected to affect the relations between different religious communities in Nepal. While the militancy and aggressiveness of these groups has largely been a new phenomenon in Nepal, the Hindu nationalists of India have had a historical relationship with the Nepalese polity that extends all the way to the 1940s when the autocratic Rana regime of Nepal and the Indian Hindu nationalist party Hindu Mahasabha forged a mutually beneficial relationship in opposition to secular forces in both countries. These ties became more pronounced with the coup of King Mahendra in the 1960s when the king actively sought the support of the Indian Hindu nationalist organizations, also known as the Sangh Parivar, to gain legitimacy for his rule. Later in the 1990s Nepalese branches of these organizations were launched in the country as a response to the state relaxing its policy towards conversions - the fear of which has always been at the heart of the Hindu nationalist ideology. This ideology, also known as Hindutva, has its roots in India in the 19th century Hindu socio-religious movements and the 1920s – a time when it developed more specifically as a political response to both the secular nationalism of the Congress Party, most prominently spearheaded by Jawaharlal Nehru, and the Khilafat movement of the Muslims. The core of the ideology lies in a majoritarian concept of a Hindu rashtra or v nation that excludes all groups that adhere to religions that have their origins outside of South Asia, meaning of course mainly Muslims and Christians. The Bharatiya Janata Party, a political front of the Hindutva forces, rose to power in India in the 1990s, and subsequently the tremendous popularity of the Hindutva ideology, termed the “saffron wave”, was followed by some of the worst incidents of communal violence since independence. These violent incidents are often provoked by the Sangh Parivar activists, and in some cases they have even been preplanned and actively tolerated by a BJP-led state government. In Nepal the Hindu nationalism promoted by the state was, however, in the beginning quite different from the Hindutva ideology, as it centered on rigid casteism, which the Hindutva ideology at least claims to oppose. Ever since the