The Rastriya Prajatantra Party led by Kamal Thapa has said it is firm on its demand for Hindu state and constitutional monarchy while also accepting the Constitution of Nepal in the new political set-up. The party has said democracy and constitutional monarchy can go together, which is the “only way to maintain stability” in the country.

The parliament abolished monarchy and declared Nepal a secular state following a popular uprising a decade ago. The RPP has been campaigning for the two agendas ever since.

Unveiling the party’s manifesto for the upcoming provincial and parliamentary elections, Thapa stressed the need for constitutional monarch as the head of state with a directly elected prime minister as the head of the government. The party has pressed for an institution that is acceptable to all and constitutional monarchy would fill the void. The party’s manifesto claims that the institution of monarchy and Hindu state are the values established among the Nepalis since time immemorial.

“We have to seek harmony between the revolutionary change and continuation of long established traditions,” Chairman Thapa said while unveiling the manifesto. Claiming that the country was turned secular without involving the people in the decision process, the party has demanded a referendum on the issue. The party charged that turning Nepal secular and republic was a planned and organised attempt to weaken Nepal’s national identity. Speaking against religious conversion, Thapa said the common people and those from indigenous and Dalit communities had been affected the most.

“There can’t be a state without religion. The concept of secular state is fundamentally wrong,” reads the RPP manifesto. The party has expressed its disagreement with the federal set-up as well saying that it was not necessary for Nepal. “This concept was established without holding enough discussion on its importance, need and meaning,” the RPP stated in its manifesto.

As a result, there have been problems in implementing the federal structure even after promulgation of the new constitution.”

Nonetheless, the party has stressed that it would be appropriate to demarcate the federal states in a way to connect the mountains, hills and the plains.

The party claims it to be unfortunate for the country to be influenced by the “ultra-leftist” agenda of the Maoist parties. The party criticises the act of recognising 33,000 Maoist combatants at the beginning of the peace process though their real strength was “hardly 8,000”. The decision to allow 83 seats to the Maoists, equal to the UML, in the parliament reinstated after the People’s Movement in 2006 was a mistake, the party observed.

The 49-page manifesto of the rightist party talks about regulating the international border in coordination with India as cross-border criminal activities had affected national security. By promoting market economy, the party promises to achieve double-digit growth in the next decade.