Madhesh tests Nepal’s secular credentials

Last week’s unrest has highlighted the urgent need to translate the political principle of secularism into a cultural praxis.

After a week of communal turmoil, Madhesh is finally settling down. The home minister’s crisis management strategy has helped bring leaders of the Hindu and Muslim communities to the talks table. The prime minister’s earnest outreach to political actors in the region, though a tad belated, has helped establish a sense of accountability and fraternity. However, the flames of communalism hardly die down with ad hoc measures. Bureaucratic management of the communal tension must be followed by long-term strategies to address deep-rooted problems, beginning with the concept of secularism itself.