By IANS,
Kathmandu : After the dispute over the hallowed Pashupatinath shrine in Kathmandu, Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace, has become the new bone of contention in Nepal.
Lumbini in southern Nepal, where the founder of Buddhism was born as Prince Siddhartha in 623 BC, is one of the holiest pilgrim shrines in the world, drawing thousands of visitors every year.
However, more than 30 years after Japanese architect Kenzo Tange drew up a master plan for developing the site, violence, political turmoil and lack of funds have come in the way of its implementation.
With the new government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal coming to power in May, now a new legal battle has started as well.
Rajendra Thapa Magar, member secretary of the Lumbini Development Trust that administers Lumbini, is fighting a battle in Nepal’s Supreme Court against the new government’s decision to fire him as well as another senior official of the trust.
Thapa Magar had been appointed by the earlier Maoist government and been given a three-year tenure which ends in 2010.
“But the new cabinet decided to remove us unceremoniously last month,” the official said. “Since there is a precedent of an earlier official fighting his unfair dismissal in court and being reinstated, we also decided to challenge the government decision in Supreme Court”.
The apex court last month told the government not to make changes till it had resolved the row and subsequently, Thapa Magar returned to his office.
However, at a press conference called Tuesday, he alleged that he was being pressured by the government to resign.
“Flouting the court order, the authorities are not even allowing me to sign the attendance register,” he said.
This month, after violence erupted at the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath over the appointment of Indian priests and Nepal’s Culture Minister Minendra Rijal asked protesters not to mix religion with politics. But a succession of Nepal’s governments has been doing exactly that.
Each time there is a change in government, all religious organisations also undergo a change in leadership.
Besides trying to push its own nominees in the Lumbini trust, the coalition government last month also tried to intervene in the committee that oversees the Buddhist monasteries in Nepal and appoint its own men.
But the Monastery Administration Development Committee has also knocked on the door of the Supreme Court and obtained a stay order.
While the major political parties fight for control, Lumbini is yet to be developed fully according to the master plan even 31 years later.
While the envisioned 42 monasteries are yet to be completed, the Lumbini Buddha University, an international centre for Buddhist learning that was conceptualised in 1998, is yet to start functioning.