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April 23, 2008

Nepal Christians hopeful of ‘full religious freedom’ under Maoists

by Anto Akkara
Ecumenical News International

THRISSUR, India — Christians in Nepal have hailed the strong lead of Maoists in elections for an assembly to draw up a constitution for the former Hindu Himalayan kingdom moving it from a feudal monarchy to a people's republic.

“The Maoist victory is a certainly big step forward towards full religious freedom here,” Pastor Simon Gurung, president of the National Christian Council of Nepal, told Ecumenical News International on April 17.

On  April 18, the Maoists had clinched 119 of the 224 results announced from 240 directly-elected seats for the constituent assembly from the elections held on April 10.

Maoists are well ahead of the major political parties, which were expected to perform much better, taking a commanding lead in the popular vote that would be the criterion to distribute 335 more seats on a proportional basis among contesting political parties (another 26 seats are appointed). There had been some complaints of intimidation by Maoists.

The decade-long Maoist insurrection for abolition of the monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom had claimed more than 13 000 lives before massive protests led by Maoists forced  King Gyanendra to abdicate power in April 2006 and led him to hand power to an interim government led by a seven-party opposition alliance.

Later, a truce was declared with Maoists who also joined the interim government, paving the way for the constituent assembly elections.

“The Maoists have always stood for abolishing and declaring a true republic. That gives us great hope,” said Pastor Gurung who had been twice imprisoned under the Hindu monarchy laws that banned conversions to Christianity.

The number of Christians in the Hindu kingdom of Nepal was estimated at less than 50,000 before 1991 when a new constitution was adopted, leading to limited multi-party democracy under the monarchy.

Though the new constitution retained the ban on conversions, it eased some of the restrictions on religious freedom.

This led to a sudden spurt in the growth of Christianity in Nepal, which now has more than 800,000 Christians scattered in 6000 independent church congregations among its population of almost 30 million people.

“The election result is positive for the Christian community,” said Chirendra Satyal, who deals with the media for the Roman Catholic Church in Nepal. Satyal, himself a convert from a royal Hindu priests’ family,  told ENI, however, that “there are also lot of anxieties on how the victorious Maoists will handle development issues like poverty.”

The rugged Himalayan terrain is one of the poorest countries in the world with female literacy below 20 percent in mountain areas and the capital Katmandu is without electricity for six hours daily.