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Nepal's identity as the world's only Hindu kingdom may come under a cloud when the millennium's first census begins this summer. Various ethnic groups have lately launched a vigorous campaign to prevent their classification as "Hindu" as in previous census records.
Indra Bahadur Gurung, a prominent campaign leader and vice-president of the Dharmodaya Sabha (a Buddhist organisation) said: "The main objective of the campaign is to make our people aware of their religious and linguistic identity. Their projection as Hindu is wrong."
Gurung described all the 61 recognised ethnic groups of the kingdom as "non-Hindus." He said these groups, whose leaders have been organising awareness camps for the past four months, would either write Buddhism or animism this time.
Prominent among them are the Gurungs, Magars, Rais and Limboos who form the backbone of the Gorkha regiments .
In many Kathmandu localities , Newars, the Autochthones of the Kathmandu valley, have even put up stickers saying, "we are Buddhists" outside their homes and business establishments.
Nepalese minister of state for health Tirtharam Dongol, a Ne-war, had sought a proper census at an international Buddhist convention inaugurated by Prime Minister GP Koirala at Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace.
According to the 1991 census, Hindus comprise 86.5 percent of the population while Buddhists, as the largest minority, make up just 7.8 per cent.
Nabin Chitrakar of Deyadabu (a national forum of the Newars) claimed that the number of Hindus would go below 50 per cent if census was done properly.
He said, " Earlier, the number of Hindus increased because Buddhists who also worship Hindu deities and visit Hindu temples were projected as Hindus. But we must not forget that there is a very close intermingling of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs in Nepal. Like us Hindus, also visit Buddhist shrines."
On the other hand, Shiv Sena (Nepal) chief Arun Subedi, who was recently in the forefront of a campaign against the destruction of the Buddha's statues in Afghanistan, suspected "the hand of people, including Christian missionaries, who want to turn Nepal into a secular country in the controversy.
"Christianity grew in Nepal after
the ban on proselytisation was lifted following the restoration of democracy
in 1990.
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