{"id":35936,"date":"2026-08-12T04:30:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=35936"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:30:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:30:05","slug":"indias-communal-violence-is-crossing-into-nepal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=35936","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Communal Violence is Crossing into Nepal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the RSS steadily building on Nepali soil, Hindu-Muslim tensions and violence are growing, especially in Nepal\u2019s Tarai-Madhesh region bordering India<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"India\u2019s
Screenshot of a video of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad meeting Dhangadi in Nepal on August 2, 2026, where activists shouted anti-Muslim slogans and called for the restoration of a Hindu state.Credit: X\/The Muslim<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nepal\u2019s Tarai-Madhesh region abutting India appears increasingly prone to religious strife. With the sway of India\u2019s Hindu nationalist groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) steadily building<\/a> on Nepali soil, the country is also witnessing more Hindu-Muslim tensions. While common in north India, such incidents had been rare in Nepal until recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, four Nepali youths were killed in clashes with police<\/a>. The immediate cause of the incident was a Hindu procession passing through Dewanjung in Sunsari district, blasting loud music. The local Muslims protested. A clash ensued, police intervened and three youths were killed. (A fourth<\/a> died in related protests in another district.) Local accounts suggest the Hindus in the area were already angry as the organizers of Muharram \u2014 a festival that marks the start of the Islamic calendar \u2014 had yet to remove some green pennants planted for the festival a month before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to one newspaper investigation<\/a>, there were at least 17 such incidents of Hindu-Muslim tensions in the Tarai belt in the past eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Nepali Hindus seldom felt the need to publicly assert their religious identity. But as the Hindu forces in India started the rather brazen display of anti-Muslim activities starting in the early 1990s \u2014 most infamous of which was the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya \u2014 the observation of Hindu festivals and rituals also began to change in Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time of the inauguration of the Ram Temple in India\u2019s Ayodhya in January 2024, rooftop saffron flags had become a common sight in Hindu homes in the Tarai-Madhesh. As religious identities became more publicly politicized, saffron flags were increasingly answered by green pennants in Muslim households. Again emulating practices across the border, elaborate religious processions accompanied by loud music also became common among Nepali Hindus and Muslims alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BJP\u2019s rhetoric that all Muslims are basically anti-Hindu and must thus be resisted has also taken root thanks to the vocal advocacy of pro-Hindu, BJP-linked groups active in Nepal. They often cite reports of growing radicalization of madrassas<\/a> in the region and entry of Rohingya refugees <\/a>to justify their activism. The Indian security establishment under the BJP in particular has consistently pushed this line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nepal\u2019s\u00a0interim constitution<\/a>\u00a0promulgated in 2007 following the end of the Maoist insurgency had declared Nepal a secular state. Yet by 2015, the demand for a Hindu state had again started gaining traction. One reason for India\u2019s imposition of a\u00a0months-long blockade<\/a>\u00a0on Nepal at the time of the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015 was that the Nepali political class had ignored the BJP-led government\u2019s wish that the new charter restore Nepal as a Hindu state.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come 2026, the risk of the use of religion as a political tool is growing in Nepal. The country\u2019s constitution bans the registration of political parties along religious lines. But if the polarization between Hindus on the one hand and Muslims (and even Christians<\/a>) on the other keeps rising, major parties could face greater electoral pressure to more publicly embrace Hinduism: 81 percent of Nepalis are Hindu. There are already significant pro-Hindu state constituencies in all of Nepal\u2019s major parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a02015 constitution<\/a>, while declaring that the country is a secular state, added the rider that secularism also means \u201cprotection of religion and culture handed down from time immemorial.\u201d As the phrase is commonly understood to refer primarily to Hindu traditions, the provision gives the majority faith an implicit constitutional privilege.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This definition of secularism was a fudge to accommodate both pro-Hindu and secular constituencies. Yet such vagueness does not seem to be helping the cause of any community: A substantial share of Hindus want a de jure Hindu state; religious minorities, including Muslims who make up just over five percent of the population, feel more and more marginalized and want the Nepali state\u2019s unconditional commitment to secularism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The risk is that these sporadic clashes will become systemic and more difficult for Kathmandu to control. The Balendra Shah government\u2019s handling of recent tensions left a lot to be desired. At the start, the incident in Sunsari was treated as a law and order problem and Nepal Police used\u00a0disproportionate force\u00a0<\/a>to contain rioters\u2014which paradoxically inflamed the whole region.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As communal tensions heightened across the Tarai-Madhesh belt, Prime Minister Shah refused to address the nation and appeal for calm. It was only when things threatened to spiral out of control that Shah finally addressed the country<\/a> on the fifth day of the Sunsari police firing. Tensions began to die down<\/a> the very next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to maintain lasting religious harmony and preserve Nepal\u2019s secular character, there must be broad political consensus in favor of separation of religion and politics. This can include an explicit commitment by political parties not to campaign on religious lines and greater representation of minorities in local administration and policing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike in India, Nepali political parties have a track record of setting aside their differences and uniting in the national interest during times of crisis. This time too all the major parties came together to\u00a0appeal for communal harmony<\/a>.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet when political competition becomes centered on faith, compromise becomes far harder. As India\u2019s example suggests, parties can bargain over policies and power, but rarely over sacred identities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2026\/08\/indias-communal-violence-is-crossing-into-nepal\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the RSS steadily building on Nepali soil, Hindu-Muslim tensions and violence are growing, especially in Nepal\u2019s Tarai-Madhesh region bordering India Nepal\u2019s Tarai-Madhesh region abutting India appears increasingly prone to religious strife. With the sway of India\u2019s Hindu nationalist groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) steadily building on Nepali soil, the country is also witnessing more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[9134,25552,8098,33062,33346,1125,7247,8097,9793,24650,310,24651,28086],"class_list":["post-35936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-bjp-2","tag-communal-violence-2","tag-extremism-2","tag-facist-2","tag-fanatics-2","tag-india-2","tag-injustice","tag-intolerance-3","tag-minorities-2","tag-modi-2","tag-nepal-2","tag-rss-3","tag-violence-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35937,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35936\/revisions\/35937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}