Editorial - http://www.gorkhapatra.org.np/content.php?nid=23577
The nation remembered the 26th death anniversary of Bisweswor Prasad (B. P.) Koirala, the late Nepali Congress leader and the first elected prime minister of Nepal, the other day. B. P. Kiorala, during and after his life, is known to be synonymous with democracy. In fact, late Koirala represents the entire history of the democratic movement in Nepal.
The Nepali Congress, still the largest political force in Nepal, is giving continuity to his political ideology of democratic socialism as the party's principle. Even today, Nepali Congress leaders make all its decisions considering the political thoughts propounded by late Koirala. Most of the leaders of the Nepali congress relate to the importance of national reconciliation that Koirala propounded while giving up his exiled life in India in 1977 following the annexation of Sikkim with India. He was a patriotic democratic leader with a clear-cut vision on the type of political, social and economic model a democratic Nepal should follow. He never compromised with any force that went against his political ideologies of democratic socialism. This is one of the reasons why he never forged an alliance with the communists during his 35 years of active political life.
"Communism is also socialism, but it lacks democracy, and if you add democracy in communism, it would be democratic socialism," Koirala propounded. He dreamed of a democratic Nepal where each farming household would own a house to live in, a small piece of farmland, a pair of oxen to plough the land and a few cows to supply the children with nutritious food. However, he did not have the time to materialise his political, social and economic programmes because of the royal coup in 1960 that nipped democracy in its bud. However, during his short tenure of 18 months as the first elected prime minister of Nepal, he introduced a number of reforms in the political and social sectors. Today everyone, including the communists who were against his political ideology during his life, agree that B. P. was the only statesman ever born in Nepal. An active member of the international socialist movement, Koirala was an acclaimed democratic leader of the Third World.
A staunch nationalist, he was the first South Asian Prime Minister to recognise Israel as an independent nation even when India was hesitant to do so. Though he led the two major political movements in 1951 and 1980, he could not realise his dream. Now when the nation is heading towards the CA elections, for which Koirala had launched a political movement some 52 years ago, the relevance of his policies of national reconciliation and others have increased. We will be paying late Koirala the greatest tribute only if we work together to create a new Nepal as dreamt by late Koirala.
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