A proposal to declare Nepal a Hindu state was on Monday overwhelmingly rejected by the Constituent Assembly which reaffirmed that the Hindu-majority nation will remain secular.
The proposal made by pro-Hindu National Democratic Party Nepal to amend the Constitution to make Nepal a Hindu state was rejected by more than two-thirds of lawmakers who declared the country should remain secular as the Constituent Assembly resumed voting on individual articles of the draft Constitution.
After Assembly Chairman Subas Chandra Nembang announced that the proposal has been rejected, Kamal Thapa, leader of the National Democratic Party Nepal, demanded split voting.
Thapa’s proposal for a vote received the support of only 21 lawmakers in the 601-seat Constituent Assembly. As the CA Rules requires 61 members to begin the split voting, the voting was not done.
The erstwhile Hindu state, Nepal was declared a secular state in 2007 after the success of the People’s Movement of 2006.
During a public opinion collection held in July, majority of the people preferred the word ‘Hindu’ or ‘religious freedom’ instead of using the term ‘secularism’.
Protesting the rejection of the proposal, a group of Hindu activists clashed with security personnel in the capital.