Who Brought the Seed of Violence in Our Land?

Unity and integrity have been the most prominent features of our national identity. However virulent cast-based politics, which has entered into our national politics as a vested issue of identity movement, in Nepal has opened a new discourse on drafting a New Nepal. While restructuring the nation, Nepal seems to be diverting from the sentiments of nationalism that represent national unity, national identity, and national autonomy because of ethnic nationalism. Moreover, the relevance of our present Nepal and all the national icons that represented the sentiments of Nepali nationalism have been examined through a narrow interpretation of ethnic politics. The basis of ethnic politics is always directed towards a coalition against a particular religion, culture, and ethnicity.   It is a politics of prohibition that never supports and argues for national unity and harmony. The distance the politicized mass of one ethnic group maintains from another ethnic group is a tragic phenomenon that hints at either genocide or forced migration. There are a myriad of horrific examples of violence we can have from the experience of ethnic politics in Rwanda, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Ultimately the violent racial tension within a country results in the emergence of new nations. The harmonious relationship between Hinduism and Buddhism followers is a Nepali society paradigm. The demarcation between Buddhism and Hinduism was not sketched during the Lichhivi period. King Amsuvarma had the same respect for Buddhism as he had had for Shaiva and his daughter Vrikuti, a follower of Buddhism, who took this religion to Tibet, after being married to a Tibetian king Shrong Chong Gampo. However, the society that has witnessed the harmony between these two religions has been interpreted as a hypothetical “internal colonialism.” Some of the so-called scholars hypothesize an alliance of Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians against the central role of Hinduism in this land. They try to link the process of Sanskritization to the unification of Nepal. Their statement does not sound convincing as the Hindu culture was prevalent in the society even before the unification.