Many people from the lowest social groups in Nepal face discrimination, including in housing, and are drawn to Christianity in search of dignity and equality. Kathmandu, 2022. csi
What the Hindu nationalist groups call Ghar Wapsi—a “return home” to the Hindu fold—is increasingly playing out in Nepal’s towns and villages. The issue has ceased to be about personal belief and become one of national identity and ideological control.
Nepal declared itself a secular federal republic in 2008, ending centuries of monarchy and the country’s status as a Hindu kingdom. But while the Constitution guarantees secularism, the debate on the ground remains unsettled.
Debate over Hindu ideals
Over a decade and a half later, the question of whether Nepal is truly a secular state or still tethered to Hindu nationalist ideals continues to dominate public discourse. Periodic calls to reinstate the Hindu kingdom and reintroduce Hindu statehood point to an unfinished transformation.
Organiser, the mouthpiece of India’s chief Hindu nationalist group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), reported last year that 2,000 people were “reconverted” to Hinduism through Vedic rituals conducted by the India-based Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, or VHP) in Nepal’s Sunsari and Morang districts.
Around the same time, four Nepali Christians were arrested and held for 24 days in Bara district for alleged proselytising. They were accused of carrying Bibles and speaking with a local family, even though no coercion was proven. And Australian Christians visiting Nepal were deported for similar reasons.
Selective application of anti-conversion law
Nepal’s anti-conversion law is selectively applied – reconversion to Hinduism is celebrated, but conversion to Christianity is effectively criminalized.
Reconversion has gained prominence in Nepal in recent years but has roots in a longer effort across South Asia to reclaim individuals who have left Hinduism. In the Nepali context, this narrative is built on the assumption that all Christians are former Hindus who were lured or tricked into abandoning their “original” faith. Disregarding personal choice, public reconversion events are used as symbolic victories in an ideological battle.
Hindu nationalist groups active in Nepal are ideologically tied to India’s RSS and political aligned with national parties like the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). These groups portray conversion as a threat to national culture, equating religious diversity with social instability. Campaigns demand the restoration of monarchy and a Hindu state.
Indian influence
But the panic over conversions does not hold up to scrutiny.
Census data shows that Christians make up just under 2% of Nepal’s population. The real target isn’t conversion—it’s political power, by groups that have ties with India’s Hindu nationalist organisations.
Hinduism in Nepal has long coexisted with Buddhism, animist practices and folk traditions. It was not historically militant or politically confrontational. But under the influence of Indian Hindu nationalism, it is beginning to mirror its neighbour’s communal trajectory—where identity is hardened, minorities are scapegoated and religious difference is cast as disloyalty. The creeping import of India’s religious politics is slowly eroding Nepal’s unique religious character.
Nepal’s silence on this shift is not benign. By failing to push back against imported majoritarian narratives, the country’s leaders—despite appearing closer to China than India—are allowing Hindu nationalism to take deeper root. This gives India another tool of influence over Nepali politics and society—an influence less visible than economic or diplomatic pressure, but just as potent. The more Nepal tolerates this ideological encroachment, the harder it will become to preserve its pluralistic foundation.
Harassment of Christians
In the middle of all this are Nepal’s Christians. Many are from Dalit backgrounds and have turned to Christianity in search of dignity and equality. But instead of being protected, they face harassment, arrest and suspicion. Accused of “luring” converts, they are rarely given the benefit of the doubt. Church gatherings are monitored, foreign visitors are deported and even carrying religious texts can at times lead to criminal charges. The right to believe differently is being steadily eroded.
Nepal’s government must take clearer steps to safeguard religious freedom and uphold the Constitution. That includes ensuring the law is not applied selectively, protecting all citizens—regardless of their faith—from harassment, and resisting ideological pressure from across the border. If secularism is to mean anything, it must be actively defended. The alternative is the slow collapse of a democratic ideal that Nepal fought hard to establish.
