Koirala’s passing away marks the end of an era

Koirala’s passing away marks the end of an era in Nepali politics
Former Nepalese Prime Minster Girja Prasad Koirala , the architect of the peace negotiations that ended a decade of Maoist insurgency , succumbed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on March 20, 2010 after suffering for nearly a fortnight. In 1991 he became prime minster of the first democratically elected government after a popular revolt that ended absolute rule by the king. Mr. Koirala was president of the Nepali Congress Party and led the mass street demonstration in 2006 that forced then-King Gyannedra to give up his authoritarian rule, reinstate parliament and appoint Mr Kiorala as caretaker prime minster. Soon after that, Koirala’s government stripped Gynendra of all his powers and command of the army. After calling then prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba incompetent, King Gyanendre Shah sacked him on February 1, 2005 and took direct control of running state affairs. Gynndra had taken over as king following the 2001 royal massacre in which his older brother King Birendra , Queen Aishwayra, Crown Prince Dipendra and Prince Niranjan among other were killed.
First coming to predominance as a union leader in the late 1940s, he has been imprisoned, exiled or detained on numerous occasions for championing the cause of democracy against various autocratic regions. In 1960 he was jailed for eight years for his prodemocracy views. His appointment as Prime minster is not the first time he has been elevated to the country’s leadership after a king’s powers have been curbed. As general secretary of the Nepali Congress Party, he played a key role in public demonstrations in the early 1990s to end the absolute powers of the current king’s brother Birendra.
Koirla spent his entire political life championing the cause of the people. He was a mass leader and a statesman whose knowledge and wisdom guided the polity of Nepal in the right direction at critical junctures in the country’s history. He led the country through some of its biggest upheavals. Koirala was seen as stabilizing force in a country that has seen 18 governments in the last twenty years although like many other politicians in Nepal he faced frequent allegations of corruption. But to many, Koirala’s contribution to national politics and history far outweighed his shortcomings. In 2008 the country voted in a 601-member constituent assembly tasked to write a new constitution. In its first sitting on May 28, 2008, the assembly abolished the 240-year old institution of the monarchy –a key demand of the Maoist party prior to joining peaceful politics. The ruling coalition of 22 political parties led by CPN-UML’s Madhav Kumar Nepal and the main opposition party, the Maoists, are at loggerheads primarily over the issue of power sharing. While the Maoists which are the largest party in the constituent assembly maintain that the incumbent government should resign and pave the way for a national unity government that they lead. The coalition holds the view that it has the numbers to lead the government. The constitution which has to be passed by two-thirds majority in the consistent assembly cannot be promulgated without the Maoists’ support because it holds 40 percent of the seats in the assembly. The Maoists and other major parties are also at odd over a host of other issues ranging from the structure of a federal model to the system of governance to be adopted in the new constitution of Nepal.
Indian Prime Minsiter Dr. Manomohan Singh described Koirala ‘one of the Nepal’s tallest leaders and an elder statesman of South Asia’. Koirala was 86. He was four times prime minister. First from 1991to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001 and 2006 to 2008. On each occasion his administration fell due to a combination of congress party in fighting and the narrowness of his majorities in parliament. The passing away of Shri Koirala marks the end of an era in Nepalese politics. Koirla had an enlightened vision of Indira-Nepal relations and worked sincerely to bring the people of the two countries closer together. He was recently nominated by the government for the Nobel Peace Prize because he was much more than a party leader. He was a statesman. “He was revered by leaders across all parties” Bishnu Rimal , politburo member of Community party of Nepal( United Marxist-Leninist) said. He had the credibility and the stature to oversee the completion of the peace process and the rafting of the new constitution. He was at the forefront of two successful people’s movement for democracy, in 1990 and the other in 2006. Today with just a little over two months left before the deadline for promulgating a new constitution expires in May, Koirala ‘s ability to bring together leaders from opposite end of the political spectrum will be sorely missed.

Md. Masum Billah
Senior Manager: brac Education Programme, PACE
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