Kathmandu (AsiaNews) – Last weekend, Hindu women celebrated the Hindu festival of Teej, which includes fasting, asking for a truly secular Nepali state. This year, the event coincided with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Dressed in red garments, women called for an effective separation between religion and public life; the wives of some Hindu fundamentalist leaders were among them. The day of celebration that united Hinduism and Islam (11 September) also had something to say about the country’s political life. The women in fact slammed the delays and political games that have so far prevented the adoption of a new constitution.
Amid dancing and singing, Kamal Thapa, wife of the leader of the pro-royal Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, expressed her support for a secular state. After all, “The nation has already embraced the value of secularism in which all religions are equally respected,” she told AsiaNews.
Sita Gautam, wife of Damodar, head of the Nepali section of the World Hindu Federation, agrees. In her view, “The country must respect religious minorities”, albeit recognising that its population is predominantly Hindu.
Hindu women celebrated the festival in various temples dedicated to Shiva across the country. Thousands prayed in temples in Pashupati and Kathmandu. Married women prayed for their husbands’ long life; unmarried women prayed for an honest and good husband.
The weekend also saw Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festivity that marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting and prayer.
The Muslim community prayed and invoked the principles that each believer must respect.
Nazrull Hussein, president of the Islamic Federation of Nepal and secretary of the Inter-religious Group, called for equal treatment of all religious groups in every domain. He warned though that those engaged in writing the new constitution “should incorporate Islamic law” in it.
Last year, the Nepali government granted the country’s religious minorities, including Muslims and Christians, the right to celebrate their festivities in public.
The mountain nation has a population of 27 million. Catholics number 8,000, a tiny fraction compared to Hindus who make 86 per cent of the total, Buddhists who are 7 per cent and Muslims who represent 3.5 per cent.
