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Posted
on 22-Mar-04 08:40 AM
Learning to read a history book-II
Vidhu Prakash Kayastha
- The Lok Sabha elections in India is around the corner. This time the people of the largest democracy will elect their representatives for the 14th Lok Sabha. Elections are not new in India. But, it is a well known fact that the coming Lok Sabha elections will make a historical impact in the regional power balance. It may be amazing to many that Nepal was directly involved in the first Lok Sabha elections held in 1952.
It is hard to believe that the then Home Minister of Nepal interfered in the first Lok Sabha elections of India. Very few people have noted that Nepal’s involvement in the first general elections of India made an adverse impact on the foundation of Indo-Nepal relations. B.P. Koirala, as Home Minister of Nepal, was largely responsible for his involvement in the Indian elections. Koirala was out of office when the 1952 elections took place in India. But a little earlier, while in power as a Home Minister, he supported a socialist party of India, both morally and financially. He has confessed in his book Atmabritanta that he collected one hundred thousand rupees from a forest contractor named Bal Krishna Shrestha and handed it over to Jayprakash Narayan, a socialist leader and a political rival of the then Indian Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, in order to support election expenses of the Indian socialists. It is still a matter of research as to how much more money Koirala collected from others to fund election expenses of his Indian mentors. Nehru was visibly annoyed with Koirala’s interference.
Those days, when the cost of gold, in Nepal, cost less than one hundred rupees per 10 grams, one hundred thousand was a huge amount. In international market, cost of gold was US $34.10 per troy ounce (which is equivalent to 31.10 gram) in the year 1951, when Koirala extended support to his Indian mentors with thousands of rupees. And the exchange rate of a dollar was less than eight rupees then. Koirala should have been impeached for corruption as well as interfering in the elections of a friendly country. Any sensible political analyst would have come to the conclusion that Koirala’s irresponsible and over-ambitious behaviour as a Home Minister of Nepal ultimately harmed the people and the nation. No wonder, Koirala’s NC got 74 seats in the Pratinidhi Sabha elections in 1959 that was held under a government presided over by an influential party colleague.
Koirala, in one way, pioneered destruction of forests for personal and political gains. Nepal was once a well forested country in the world, after Brazil and Malaysia, with more than 60 per cent of total land of the country covered by forests. ‘Hariyo ban -Nepal ko dhan’, which means green forests is the real wealth of Nepal., was a catchy slogan then. But the politicians and the bureaucrats kept on looting the green forests to amass wealth as well as to support election expenses at home and abroad. 60 per cent of the forest land has been reduced to less than 15 per cent in due course of time.
King Tribhuvan, who risked his crown and throne to bring down the Rana oligarchy in order to establish democracy in Nepal, could never trust B.P. Koirala and never did he again, in his life time, offer him a berth in the cabinet. The Library of Congress compilation states: The themes of politics in the early 1950—class, opposition to authoritarian trends within party leadership, and nationalistic propaganda, combined with agitational united front tactics—have remained standard features of party politics in Nepal. As various political parties slashed at each other and the King maneuvered for greater power, the country began experimenting with a limping democracy.
BP’s inclination towards the politics and internal matters of India proved to be fatal for democratisation of Nepal. Nepal experienced several governments for eight years after the fall of the Rana oligarchy before it could hold the first ever general elections. The late King Mahendra publicly warned Koirala not to misuse power and harm the nationality and national unity. A year later, the Royal public warning, the cold relations between the King and Prime Minister Koirala, who turned a deaf ear to the King’s warning, however, led to the Royal takeover of December 15, 1960.
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The legacy of betrayal and high handedness continues in the NC. Was it necessary to dissolve the parliament in 1994? Things would have been different if G.P. Koirala had allowed one of his colleagues to take over instead of bluntly dissolving the House. The earth would not have turned upside down if a non-Koirala like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Sher Bahadur Deuba were allowed to serve full term when the NC enjoyed majority in the parliament.
The behaviour of Koiralas have shown that they would go to the extent of breaking parties and also harming democracy if some one other than themselves become the Prime Minister. Like in other countries of South Asia, they wanted to establish hereditary democracy in Nepal as well. It is quite understandable why the NC is demanding an all party-government headed by a member of the Koirala clan before elections are held in the country or why they do not support a Madhav Nepal or a Narayan Man Bijukchhe to preside over a government that would hold elections? In and all, four general elections were held in the country and all the four were held under the premiership of a Congress leader. Coalition governments of 1959 and 1991 that conducted the general elections were headed by NC stalwarts Subarna Shumshere and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, respectively. Girija Prasad Koirala was Prime Minister when the elections of 1994 and 1999 was held. Today, when elections seem to be the only way out of the constitutional impasse, they do not want to accept it under any Prime Minister other than a Congressman, or possibly G.P. Koirala himself, for a third time in a row. They know which side of the bread is buttered during election time.
No doubt, democracy is ultimately the long cherished desire of every sensible person in Nepal. But, democracy without democrats has led the country to the middle of nowhere.
(The writer can be reached at vidhu@mail.com.np; vidhuprakash@hotmail.com)
Read full article on:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?catid=fet&nid=8203
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