Janakpurdham, Aug 4: Home Minister Sudhan Gurung held talks with religious groups in Janakpur as part of the government’s efforts to ease communal tensions that flared across the Tarai Madhesh following the Dewanganj incident in Sunsari.
Acting on the instruction of Prime Minister Balendra Shah, Gurung met various stakeholders across the region before arriving in Janakpur, where Hindu organisations had been staging protests demanding that Nepal be reinstated as a Hindu state.
The government has not officially disclosed the outcome of the talks. Still, representatives who attended the meeting claimed they had reached an understanding with the home minister and subsequently called off their protests. No written agreement has been made public by either side.
More than two dozen representatives of the Unified Joint Hindu Front, including the Hindu Samrat Sena, the World Hindu Council Nepal, the National Bajrang Dal and the National Unity Party, submitted a 13-point memorandum to Gurung. Another alliance submitted an additional six-point charter on Sunday.
The groups said the home minister agreed to initiate discussions on restoring Nepal as a Hindu state. One faction claimed the government requested three months to convene an all-party and all-stakeholder meeting, while another said Gurung committed to holding such a meeting within one month.
The protesters’ 19-point charter also calls for stricter action against the display of weapons during religious festivals, regulation of loudspeakers at temples, mosques, churches, monasteries and madrasas, and proper documentation and monitoring of people living around religious sites, including foreign nationals.
World Hindu Council Nepal chairman Santosh Sah claimed that Gurung assured participants he would raise the Hindu state issue within his party and in Parliament, and directed local authorities to begin implementing the remaining demands immediately.
The marathon talks, attended by around 25 to 30 representatives of religious organisations, security officials and government representatives, lasted nearly 12 hours on Saturday. Participants said Gurung assured them he would stand by the commitments made during the meeting.
Participants in the talks said Home Minister Sudhan Gurung stressed that preserving communal harmony was the government’s immediate priority and urged all sides to play a constructive role in maintaining peace.
Satish Sanatani, who attended the meeting, said the protesters had demanded that Nepal be restored as a federal Hindu state. While previous governments had reached agreements but failed to implement them, he expressed confidence that the current administration would act on its commitments.
“Social harmony is now under growing threat from communal tensions. When Nepal was a Hindu state, we never witnessed this kind of hostility. People of all communities lived together peacefully,” he said.
The marathon talks began at 11 am on Saturday and continued until 11 pm. Representatives who attended the meeting said Gurung listened carefully to all the demands and assured them he would not back away from the commitments made during the discussions.
According to the participants, the home minister repeatedly emphasised that maintaining communal harmony was the government’s top priority and called on all stakeholders to contribute to preserving peace.
Manju Sanatani, a member of the Hindu Samrat Sena, argued that Nepal had been declared a secular state by political leaders without consulting the public. She said the current government, which enjoys a near two-thirds majority, should respect public sentiment and take steps to restore Nepal as a Hindu state.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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