Nepal's 'spiritual' communists

For the secular Nepali mind, the last two weeks in the country have been very irritating and frustrating, with the irritation and frustration surpassing the political anxiety of the last few months. Starting with the fake Kalibaba (whose real identity and background have been thankfully exposed by Himal magazine), ‘un-liberated’ Hindu mind staged a disgusting drama in Janakpur where former king Gyanendra Shah was on a visit, and was concluded by the public and official endorsement of Ramdev by our very own ‘scientific-minded’ Pushpa Kamal Dahal at Tundikhel in Kathmandu. The boss of the largest communist party of Nepal, while endorsing Ramdev, has not only made a mockery of the idea of nationalism by mixing it with (Hindu) spiritualism spread by gurus like Ramdev through yoga, but also of the modern, secular Nepali mind that has made the last political transformation possible in the country.

I have no problems with the Hindu religion. Similarly, it is perfectly fine for anyone to be a follower of any religion and even our political leaders have the right to have faith in any religion of their choice. But when being religious means compromising on rational thinking, there is a problem. And some people may tend to think that yoga and spiritualism are different, and also that yoga and Hindu religion are different. Maybe they are right. But they are wrong when they think that Ramdev and Hinduism are different. Therefore, it is a mistake not to mix Ramdev’s yoga with Hindu religion.

Yoga may be good for the body, and the mind, but you pay the associated price for it when you are a top political (and communist) leader of the country and go to Tundikhel to practice yoga under a guru who comes from a country that you think has compelled you to fight for national sovereignty. If one were to do yoga for whatever reasons, he could do it quietly at home or go to any place quietly to learn it. Whether it is Jhalanath Khanal or Dahal, they have made Nepalis feel smaller than they already are by obediently doing the yoga exercise under the Indian instructor at a public place.

Looking at the religious practices and following of some of our leaders, sometimes one is forced to ask questions such as: What can we expect from politicians who believe that Kalibaba can ensure them a better political career?

BP Koirala’s followers in the Nepali Congress (NC) provide another fascinating example about their own hypocrisy regarding the practice of Hindu religion and its rites that do not make any sense to observe. The Congressmen, especially the generation that boasts of having been able to meet and work with BP Koirala before he passed away nearly three decades ago, take pride in the fact that Koirala did not observe the traditional Hindu practice of last rites (and kiriya) when his father passed away. NC obviously takes pride when people comment that B P was the first renaissance child of Nepal and it was he who imported modernity in the country in 1950s. However, the Congressmen even now cannot do what BP did then to defy the practices under the name of religion that made no sense to the rational mind of the leader.

Of late, everyone is talking about right wing, Hindu fundamentalists, and the former monarch with the support of the fundamentalists trying to take advantage of the unstable situation of the country. Some people argue that even if the country has been declared to be secular officially, there is a big group of the population that wants it otherwise. There is all this confusion, and the argument that many people still want the country to be Hindu is a result of the major political parties – who led the country to be secular – being unable to define their stance with regard to religion, its practices and spirituality. Each party may have a line or two to specify what their stance is but no party has bothered to engage in a dialogue with the educated mass of the people who look for an answer on these questions.

Looking at the religious practices and following of some of our leaders, sometimes one is forced to ask questions such as: What can we expect from politicians who believe that Kalibaba can ensure them a better political career? “Spiritual” surrendering before a certain Baba can sometimes be more dangerous than political surrender before their political masters. Colonialism has had interesting ways and means in history. India has the advantage of using its priests (Pashupatinath case) and Babas (Ramdev) for “spiritual” colonialism, or expansionism for the purists in terminology, in its Hindu neighborhood, if not elsewhere.

In Nepal, we have not talked much about the relation between one’s creed and political ideology. But without discussing in detail and making each leader’s positions clear with regard to this, it would be superficial to assess whether our political parties are really secular. For example, if Ram Chandra Poudel believes that Hanuman had really set Lanka ablaze, I would have problem in accepting that he believes in secularism. If Dahal really believes that Ramdev’s spiritualism empowers his ideology of nationalism, I have problem in accepting that he is a Marxist/communist leader. As long as Nepal’s “secular” leaders act as silent receivers of Indian Babas’ spiritual invasion in different forms, it is useless to be furious with other right wing fundamentalists.

bishnu.sapkota@gmail.com