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NATIONAL RECONCILIATION |
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NATIONAL RECONCILIATION |
A Forgotten Agenda ? As different forces are out to destroy the constitution, late congress leader's policy becomes relevant By BHAGIRATH YOGI Upon his return home from eight years of exile in India on December 30, 1976, Nepali Congress leader and the first popularly elected prime minister of Nepal, Bisweswor Prasad Koirala, propounded what is now known as the "Policy of National Reconciliation." At a time when Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had imposed a state of emergency in her country, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka were reeling under tension and conflict and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim had lost its independence, Koirala risked his life by returning to Nepal, where he faced a life sentence or even the death penalty.
"The existence of the king is linked with the nation's existence. When there is a grave crisis in the making upon the very existence of my country, I can't remain a spectator in an alien land," he said. Koirala said there was a need for the king and democratic forces in the country to come together at a time of national crisis. Though he was jailed upon entering Nepal, within three years King Birendra announced a referendum asking the people to choose between the continuation of the Panchayat polity with reforms and the restoration of multi-party polity. The Panchayat camp was declared victorious by a narrow margin. In 1982, B.P. Koirala died in Kathmandu. Twenty-three years later, when democracy has been restored in Nepal and his party is running the government, Koirala's visionary policy is still relevant, say analysts. Koirala had said he would not fight against the king but would not bow down to the then autocratic regime. Koirala always put the national interest ahead of his struggle for the restoration of democracy. He said his party, the Nepali Congress, would become irrelevant the day it abandoned its stand on nationalism. Similarly, it would also lose its relevance when it engaged in power politics by casting aside democratic values. As the ruling party has sunk deep in internal feud at a time when the country is facing threats from within and outside, Koirala's sayings have become much more relevant today than anytime in contemporary Nepali history. |
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