Photo Courtesy: DWIT News

Nepal was a Hindu state until the reestablished parliament decided that Nepal would be a secular state. This became a controversial topic. On one side there were people who were welcoming secularism in Nepal, and on the other side there were people who were against it and were asking for a referendum.     

The first constituent assembly election was held on 10 April 2007. After the election, the political parties that supported the idea of a secular state received the majority of seats in the constituent assembly. Since this constituent assembly was not able to provide a new constitution, it was dissolved on May 28 2012.

The second constituent assembly election was held on 19 November 2013. This constituent assembly was supposed to bring a first draft of a constitution on January 22 2015, but sadly it did not.

Better late than never, the first draft has now been presented with 297 articles, 37 parts and 7 annexes to the parliament and is being discussed. The constituent assembly (Committee on Citizen Relation and Public Opinion) has come up with a 15 day action plan to collect public opinion. The opinion collection started on July 8 and will end on July 23. One of the major topics for discussion is whether Nepal will remain a secular state.

To know the opinion of DWIT family on the subject, DWIT NEWS conducted a survey and gathered information. As we can see in the pie chart, 37 percent voted in the favor of Secular State, 30 percent voted for Hindu state and 33 percent stayed neutral on the issue. This shows that there is a mixed reaction to the issue.

Nepal was the only Hindu country in the world which gave it a unique identity in the world. Even when Nepal was a Hindu country, all the religions were respected. So, some people (30% in case of DWIT) wants Nepal to be a Hindu country or at least wants this issue to be settled with a referendum. Those people who do not government to be neutral on the issue of religion want secular state. Their belief is that a person follows religion not country. The other set of people are neutral on the issue and is fine with whatever the decision constituent assembly takes as far as every religion is treated equally.