HINDUS opposed to the secular nature of Nepal’s draft constitution attacked Deputy Prime Minister Prakash Man Singh yesterday as he was consulting citizens on the document.

About 200 protesters from Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal stormed into the national stadium chanting slogans as Mr Singh addressed a crowd that had gathered as part of a campaign to collect feedback from the public on the proposed text of the constitution.

They scuffled with police in riot gear and threw chairs at the deputy prime minister before being pushed out of the arena, but no-one was hurt in the disturbance.

Protester Madhav Bhattarai said: “Almost all Nepalese are Hindus and we will continue to protest until the country is declared a Hindu state once again.”

He claimed that Nepal had been declared a secular republic, which happened after the monarchy was deposed in 2008, only “because of foreign influence.”

The monarchy promoted Hinduism and kings were claimed to be reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu.