THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former prime minister of Nepal Jhala Nath Khanal on Tuesday said Secularism enshrined in Nepalese constitution in 2008 is irreversible.
He was replying to questions on the demands being raised by fringe Hindu right wing groups for renaming Nepal as Hindu Rashtra. “A small section of people say Nepal should be made a Hindu nation. This type of thinking is th-ere in some. But the majority of the people made the new constitution secular. Secularism is the national trend. It is irreversible,” he said.
Mr Khanal said the state in Nepal is above religion, it is friendly to all religions. “This is the country’s policy. Our country is always friendly with all religion, all belief systems in the country and around the world,” he said.
When asked about the growing trend of Hindutva politics in India, he said; “Indian society is secular . As a whole India is a secular country. Secularism is important and it will remain fundamental to India. That is my belief that is my hope. But I don’t know what will be the mind of people of India and their decision."
On Nepal’s growing closeness to China, Mr Khanal said; “Our country has ve-ry good relations with the two big neighbors China and India. India and China are developing very fast. They are two very important powers in the world. Nepal is a non aligned country. Some times there were problems between India and China , at that time also Nepal remained non aligned. We want to have more cooperation with both countries. China is developing its own model and so is India. We have to learn from them and develop our own model,” he said.
On the declining influence of communist parties in India, Mr Khanal said the communists have been ruling Kerala alternatively. Now they are out of power in West Bengal and Tripura. This is the characteristic of parliamentary system. Some times they win sometimes they lose. “I hope all communist friends in India come together like Nepal. Fight the elections on good issues and ensure good results.”
Mr Khanal said he strongly believed that socialism is the future of the world. It is the future of India. Slowly the society will have the transition from socialism to communism, he said.
