demonstrate that importance.

(July 2015)

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala

बिश्वेश्वर प्रसाद कोइराला

Home Minister Koirala in New Delhi, India in 1951

22nd Prime Minister of Nepal

In office
27 May 1959 – 15 December 1960

Monarch Mahendra

Preceded by Subarna Shamsher Rana

Succeeded by Tulsi Giri

2nd President of the Nepali Congress

In office
26 May 1952 – 24 January 1956
Preceded by Matrika Prasad Koirala

Succeeded by Subarna Shamsher Rana

In office
23 May 1957 – 21 July 1982

Preceded by Subarna Shamsher Rana

Succeeded by Krishna Prasad Bhattarai

Home Minister of Nepal

In office
21 February 1951 – 12 November 1951

Prime Minister Mohan Shumsher

Personal details

8 September 1914
Born Varanasi, British India
(now India)

21 July 1982 (aged 67)

Died
Kathmandu, Nepal

Political party Nepali Congress

Spouse(s) Sushila Koirala

Scottish Church College

Alma mater Banaras Hindu University
University of Calcutta
 Signature

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala meets David Ben-Gurion during a visit to Israel

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (Nepali: विश्वेश्वरप्रसाद कोइराला; 8 September 1914 – 21 July

1982), commonly known as B. P. Koirala, was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1959 to 1960.
He led the Nepali Congress, a social democratic political party.

Koirala was the first democratically elected and 22nd Prime Minister of Nepal. He held the
office just 18 months before being deposed and imprisoned by order of King Mahendra. The rest
of his life was spent largely in prison or exile and in steadily deteriorating health.[1]

Widely regarded as one of the greatest political personality of Nepal, he was a staunch supporter
of democracy who believed that democracy was necessary as it guaranteed an individual’s
liberty and civil and political rights. But to BP, guarantee of individual liberty and civil and
political rights alone were not sufficient in an underdeveloped country like Nepal. Thus, he
proposed democratic socialism as the prescription for ending Nepal’s underdevelopment.[2]

Contents
 [hide] 

 1 Early life
  2 Political career
 3 Literature
 4 Legacy
o 4.1 BP Koirala Nepal Health Foundation
o 4.2 B.P. Koirala Memorial Planetorium, Observatory and Science Museum
Development Board
o 4.3 BP Koirala Death Anniversary
 5 Bibliography
 6 See also
 7 References
 8 External links

Early life[edit]
Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was born in Varanasi to father Krishna Prasad Koirala, a follower
of Mahatma Gandhi.[3] When asked how he became interested in politics, Koirala said, "There
was politics in the blood of my family. My father had to leave Nepal when I was three years old.
Everyone in the family had a warrant of arrest against him; our entire property was confiscated.
We were in exile in India for twelve years [1917–1929] so I had my schooling in India, and
thereafter I joined my college there."

The British Raj charged him and his brother, Matrika Prasad Koirala, for having contacts with
terrorists in 1930. They were arrested and set free after three months. Due to this, Bishweshwar
began to study in Calcutta at Scottish Church College per his father's wishes. Towards the end of
1930, he left the college and returned to Banaras. In 1932, he completed his intermediate level of
studies. His father again insisted that his son join Scottish Church College in Calcutta. So for the
second time, he joined the college, but left it soon after. In 1934, he completed his bachelor's
degree in economics and politics from Banaras Hindu University.[4]

After earning his degree at the Banaras Hindu University, he later took a degree in law at the
University of Calcutta in 1937 and practiced law for several years in Darjeeling. While still a
student he became involved in the Indian nationalist movement, and in 1934 he joined the Indian
National Congress. During World War II he was interned by the British in Dhanbad for two
years (1942–1944).

Political career[edit]
Following his release, with Indian independence imminent, he set about trying to bring change to
Nepal. In 1947 he founded from India the socialist Nepali National Congress, which in 1950
became the Nepali Congress Party. In 9 March 1947, Koirala crossed over to Nepal for helping
brother Girija Prasad Koirala instigate Biratnagar jute mill strike. He was arrested along with
Girija Prasad Koirala and four other National Congress leaders and taken with his fellow
agitators to Kathmandu via a 21days long, slow walk across the hills. The prisoners' march
attracting much attention and helping to radicalise the peasants whose villages lay en route. The
Koirala along with other detanies were kept in a Kathmandu bungalow but were soon released
after a 27-day hunger strike, popular protests, and by the request of Mahatma Gandhi in August
1947[5] B.P. went back to India, and began looking for arms to storm Kathmandu.Finally Koirala
led the Revolution of 1951 which overthrew Nepal's 104-year-old Rana regime. The last Rana
prime minister was dismissed in October 1951 when the Rana-Congress coalition cabinet (in
which Koirala served for nine months as the Home minister) broke apart. Koirala then
concentrated on the developing Nepali political structure. King Mahendra responded with a new
constitution enabling free parliamentary elections to take place in 1959. Only a fragmented
parliament was expected, but Koirala's Nepali Congress scored a landslide, taking more than
two-thirds of the seats in the lower house. After several weeks of significant hesitation,
Mahendra asked Koirala to form a government, which took office in May 1959.

Koirala led his country's delegation to the United Nations and made carefully poised visits to
China and India, then increasingly at odds over territorial disputes. Yet, he was in trouble at
home almost from the beginning. His land reform measures, especially the revision of the
tenancy laws so easily passed by parliament, deeply offended the landed aristocracy which had
long dominated the army. King Mahendra, on 15 December 1960, suspended the constitution,
dissolved parliament, dismissed the cabinet, imposed direct rule, and for good measure
imprisoned Koirala and his closest government colleagues. Many of them were released after
few months, but Koirala, though he was suffering from throat cancer, was kept imprisoned
without trial until 1968. In 1968 then the Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, who led the
liberal group in the Rastriya Panchayat, played a significant role in releasing B. P. Koirala from
prison. Later in June, Mr. Thapa had to resign due to pressure from the hardliner in releasing Mr.
Koirala from prison. Then he was finally left on a self-exile to live in Banaras.[6]

King Birendra, educated in England and the United States, succeeded his father in 1972 when the
political climate was believed to be gradually improving. Koirala, however, was arrested
immediately upon his return from exile in 1976 and charged with the capital offense of
attempting armed revolution. Finally, in March 1978, he was cleared of all treason and sedition
charges. Then, in 1981, he was cleared to travel to the United States for medical treatment. The
Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa convinced the king to allow Mr. B. P. Koirala to proceed
to the U.S. for treatment as per recommendation from the royal physician Dr. M. R. Pandey. The
government of Nepal bore a portion of the cost of his medical treatment in the U.S., while the
rest was arranged by his nephew Shail Updhaya, Dr. Shukdev Shah, family and friends.

After returning from a further medical visit to the United States, he had a series of audiences
with King Birendra, as he tried for a "national reconciliation". During the student demonstrations
in 1979, he was under house arrest. However, he welcomed King Birendra's call for national
referendum on the question of political system for Nepal. The referendum results were
announced to be in favor of retaining the political system led by the king. B. P. Koirala was the
first leader to welcome the result of the national referendum and accepted the people verdict and
claimed that the referendum was fair and free. However, owing to differences in the electoral
process to seek membership of class organization as mandatory, Koirala demanded a boycott of
the 1981 elections. Despite obviously failing health and political strength, Koirala could still
draw a great popular support. He addressed one of Nepal's largest public meetings in recent years
in Kathmandu's Ratna Park in January 1982. He died on July 21, 1982, in Kathmandu. An
estimated half a million people attended his funeral.
Literature[edit]

Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala

While Koirala is considered one of the most charismatic political leader of Nepal, he was also
one of the most well-read and thoughtful writers of Nepalese literature. He wrote short stories
and novels, and some poems. BP Koirala began writing short stories in Hindi. His first stories
were published in Banaras in Hansa, a Hindi literary magazine edited by Prem Chand (India's
Tolstoy). His first Nepali short story "Chandrabadan" was published in Sharada, a Nepali
literary magazine in 1935. Koirala was very good at depicting the character and mind of women.
Four other stories of Koirala were included in Katha Kusum (an anthology of Nepali stories),
published in 1938 in Darjeeling, place attacked by India which was of Nepal in past. As a social
realist, with good psychological insight as he was first writer to write stories and novels based on
human psychology in history of nepalese literature, Koirala had established himself as one of the
most important Nepali short story writers by 1938. Doshi Chashma [Guilty Glasses], Koirala's
anthology of sixteen short stories, was published in 1949. He was one of great writer to
contribute in nepali literature.

Koirala was very busy in the 1950s as he was in the center of Nepal's national politics. He was,
however, able to write an incomplete novel Hitlar ra Yahudi (Hitler and the Jews) in the form of
travelogue. The 1960s were very productive for Koirala in terms of his literary output. He wrote
many novels and short stories in jail during 1960–68. They include: Tin Ghumti (Three Turns),
1968; Narendra Dai (Brother Narendra), 1969; Sumnima (A story of the first Kirata woman),
1969; Modiain (The Grocer's Wife), 1980; Shweta Bhairavi (The White Goddess of Terror),
1983; Babu Ama ra chora (Father, mother and sons), 1989; and an incomplete autobiography
Mero Katha (My Story), 1983, and many more yet to be published.[7]
Koirala also has dozens of political essays including the following: "Rajatantra ra Lokatantra"
("Monarchy and Democracy"), 1960; "Thichieka Janata Jagisake" ("The Oppressed People
Rise"), 1969; "Rastriyata Nepalko Sandarbhama" ("Nationalism in the Context of Nepal"), 1970;
"Kranti: Ek Anivaryata" ("Revolution: An Absolute Necessity"), 1970; "Panchayati Vyavastha
Prajatantrik Chaina" ("The Panchayat System is not Democratic"), 1978; "Prajatantra ra
Samajvad" ("Democracy and Socialism"), 1979; and "Rastriya Ekata ko Nimti Ahwan" ("A Call
for National Reconciliation"), 1980.

Koirala's writings (both political and literary) were banned until recently. Nepalese youths spent
several years of imprisonment just on the charges of possessing Koirala's writings. Another
problem is that his rare and important writings have been scattered all over. Old newspapers and
magazines (including the underground publications) have to be researched. Libraries, museums,
and archives in Kathmandu, Banaras, Calcutta, New Delhi, London, Paris, Berkeley, Stanford,
and many other places have to be visited to collect the materials on Koirala. As a result, one can
hope to produce volumes of his political writings and literary works.

Koirala was the focus of Nepalese politics during the 1950s, 1960s, and the 1970s. Even today,
long after his death, people of Nepal feel that the restoration of multi-party democracy is a
tribute to him. Koirala was also one of the most important literary figures of Nepal. In politics
Koirala was a social democrat; in literature he was an existentialist especially in his novel Tin
Ghumti (Three Turns). He said that he wrote his literary works to satisfy his anarchist impulses,
impulses which revolted against the traditional order of things. But as a social democrat he was
in search of a political order that was agreeable to every citizen of Nepal.

As a politician, Koirala struggled throughout his life for the establishment of a multi-party
democracy in his country. Traditional forces, still strong to resist such effort, made it very hard
for "B. P." to accomplish his political mission. As a social democrat, Koirala differed with
communists; as he often said man cannot live by bread alone. He also differed with the
capitalists as he thought that unbridled consumerism was immoral, and that the appalling
exploitation of the world's resources was short-sighted and unrealistic. He believed that only
socialism could guarantee political freedom and equal economic opportunities to the people. He
said, "socialism is the wave of the future."

Koirala had studied economics, logic, literature, and law. He was a voracious reader of English,
German, French, Russian, American, Hindi, Bengali and Nepali literature. His educational
background and artistic genius combined in his own works to present a view of life in an artistic,
logical and compelling manner. He would thus shake the conscience of Nepali readers by
questioning their unreflective acceptance of the traditional value systems.

Koirala's short stories were first published in the 1930s in Hindi and Nepali literary magazines.
Koirala first came to notice in Nepali literature because often his characters seemed to have been
treated with an understanding of Freudian psychoanalysis. Even when a short story or novel of
Koirala was not Freudian in its approach, it was still noteworthy to Nepali readers because he
presented an unconventional approach to life.
Modiain (The Grocer's wife) is probably his shortest novel. In Modiain Koirala looks at the
Mahabharata war from the point of view of a young woman who loses her husband to the war.
This woman was not alone. There were hundreds of thousands of young women who were
widowed by the war. Thus, Koirala presents a passionate plea against the philosophy of the
Bhagavad Gita, which assumes that the world is but an illusion and thus makes life and death a
meaningless phenomena and that the observance of one's own duty is the ultimate priority.
Koirala was against war, and by looking at the Vedanta philosophy and the issue of war from a
war widow's point of view, he once again shakes the conscience of the Nepali readers who
generally tend to accept the philosophy of Vedanta especially its idea of karma (fate).
Characteristically, Koirala presents one more instance in which he analyzes the mind of a
woman, as he did in most of his short stories and novels.

Legacy[edit]
BP Koirala Nepal Health Foundation[edit]

BP Koirala Nepal Health Foundation was inaugurated in 1992 AD by the prime ministers of
India and Nepal with the objective of supplementing the normal cooperation and interaction at
the Government-to-Government level by providing statesmen, media persons, etc. to constantly
nurture and further enhance the understanding and friendship between two countries.

The trust is a symbol of Nepali renaissance [8][9]

B.P. Koirala Memorial Planetorium, Observatory and Science Museum

Development Board[edit]

Government of Nepal has established B.P. Koirala Memorial Planetarium, Observatory and
Science Museum Development Board in 1992 in order to establish Planetaria, Observatories and
Science Museums in Nepal & conduct research activities in the area of Astronomy, Astrophysics
and Cosmology [10][11]

BP Koirala Death Anniversary[edit]

Various programs are organized in Nepal as well as outside Nepal to remember his selfless
contributions to Nepal.[