A year after a militant Hindu group came into prominence by engineering a bomb attack on a church in Kathmandu valley that killed three women, another such group is on the rise, seeking to restore Hinduism as Nepal’s state religion, claims a prominent doctor who was a kidnap victim.
For more than a fortnight, Dr Bhaktaman Shrestha, executive director at B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital in Nepal’s southern Chitwan district, had grabbed headlines in Nepal after he disappeared last month while returning home from hospital. The disappearance fuelled nationwide protests by the medical fraternity; and the government as well as the Opposition Maoist party formed two separate probe panels to unravel mystery.
Last week, the missing doctor’s car and briefcase were found in two different locations, giving rise to fears about his safety. Then miraculously, the doctor, a Maoist sympathiser, reappeared on Saturday, claiming he was abducted by a Hindu party that sought to make its presence felt through his abduction.
According to Dr Shrestha, he was kidnapped by the Nepal Hindu Janata Party, a new outfit that has branches in 18 of Nepal’s 75 districts and an army of over 4,000. It is seeking to re-establish Hinduism as Nepal’s state religion. Dr Shrestha, who wept publicly, also told the media he was kept blindfolded throughout his 18-day captivity though his captors treated him well and even provided him medicine for his migraine. The claim about a Hindu militant group comes a year after an underground organisation, the Nepal Defence Army, caused a bomb to go off at the oldest Catholic church in Kathmandu valley, followed by threats to Christians and Muslims to leave Nepal or face consequences. However, since the arrest of NDA head Ram Prasad Mainali as well as the woman, who the police say hid the bomb in the church, the attacks on minorities have stopped. A parliamentary party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepal) and Hindu groups like Shiv Sena Nepal and Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh have been seeking the restoration of Hinduism as the state religion but none have advocated violence so far. —IANS