The state's Vision towards Ethnicity, Language, Religion and Culture in Nepal: Past and Present

The period from the expansion of the Gorkha state to the present time is about 280 years and the present article is focused on the objective of finding out the realistic aspects of the state's vision towards ethnicity, language, religion and culture in Nepal during this period. This article based on secondary or library material is completely based on qualitative and analytical method. The state power of Nepal remained unitary and centralized for a long time in the expanded Gorkha state or the political boundary drawn by Prithvi Narayan Shah. With the construction of the expanded state, the exploiters and the ruled class were separated and the winners ruled as rulers, while the losers were forced to live as second class citizens. After that the mono-lingual, mono-cultural and mono-racial system cultivated, worked to control the defeated communities of different cultures, languages, religions and castes instead of uniting them emotionally. The leadership of the ruling class separated the defeated tribes from the state structure with the thought of deriving all the work from the Hindu Arya Morcha, making people Dalits and prohibiting them from entering their homes, families, temples and public life. They advocated single language, religion, culture and one state in the association of four races and thirty-six castes. The Constitution of 2047, which was made after the restoration of the democratic system in 2046, stipulates that the state shall not discriminate among citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, gender, origin, language or ideological beliefs, and that each community shall be able to protect and promote its language, religion, culture, cultural civilization and heritage. The Interim Constitution 2063 made after the mandate of Jan Andolan 2 (2062-63) considered Nepal as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multilingual nation with multi-cultural characteristics and all the mother tongues spoken in Nepal as the national language. The conclusion is presented that the constitution of 2072 has absorbed the essence of Nepal's multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural people, expressing the feeling that there should be equality and co-existence between all citizens on the basis of religion, race, caste, gender, origin, language or ideological belief, as well as maintaining equality and coexistence and maintaining the cultural diversity of the country through the equal development of language, literature, art and culture.