Nepal reposes faith in old warhorse Koirala

KATHMANDU: When Nepal's main political parties named four-time prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala on Tuesday to head a new government in the troubled nation, the wheel had come full circle for the veteran politician.   

In 1991, Koirala became Nepal's first elected prime minister in 30 years when his social democratic Nepali Congress won elections after then King Birendra gave in to a popular and violent demand for multi-party democracy.   

A similar mass campaign this month against King Gyanendra -- Birendra's brother who grabbed power last year -- culminated in the monarch agreeing to step down and reinstating a dissolved parliament, leading to Koirala''s return.   

In the intervening decade-and-a-half, Koirala, 84, has watched Nepal plunge from the heady days of a new democracy to the brink of chaos.  He has himself been prime minister four times, reflecting the political instability that plagued the nation since 1991.   

With the impoverished Himalayan kingdom staring at severe political, economic and humanitarian crises left in the wake of 15 years of turmoil, Koirala's fifth time as prime minister is expected to be his most challenging. “It was a nascent democracy. We all made mistakes, myself also,”Koirala told Reuters less than two weeks ago.   

“But democracy is a system to address the mistakes also. People have realised it. In future, we will not make those mistakes,” he said, referring to the misrule and corruption that plagued Nepali politics under multi-party democracy.   

Analysts describe the chain-smoking, former trade union leader as stubborn, inflexible and sometimes, inarticulate.   

However, the politician who never went to college is also credited with introducing sweeping economic reforms and privatisation in the face of communist objections.   

FIGHTING SPIRIT:   Nearly 60 years ago, Koirala organised a labour strike in a jute mill against the then hereditary prime minister from the Rana family and, as punishment, had to walk for 45 days from his hometown, Biratnagar, in east Nepal, to Kathmandu.   

Years later, when King Mahendra, father of the present monarch, banned political parties in 1960, Koirala spent seven years in jail and later went into exile in neighbouring India for opposing absolute monarchy.   

That spirit seems very much alive despite his failing health which has forced him to remain confined to his bungalow in an upmarket Kathmandu neighbourhood.   

“I will not go there like a dog (with my) tail between my two legs,” Koirala had said when asked if he would hold talks with King Gyanendra to defuse the street campaign against the monarch.   

“My dear friend, you should know that I've been fighting for democracy since 60 years and am fighting still”.

Dealing with Maoist rebels -- fighting since 1996 to topple Nepal's monarchy and establish communist rule -- is seen as Koirala's toughest first task.   

The Maoist insurgency has killed more than 13,000 people, wrecked Nepal''s economy which depends on tourism and aid and forced thousands to flee the violence in the countryside.   

The rebels, who entered into a loose alliance with the political parties last year, rejected on Tuesday the king's decision to reinstate parliament calling the decision a sham.   

Analysts and political parties hope that Koirala, a die-hard anti-communist, will prevail upon the Maoists.    “We are democrats, and we have some responsibilities. I want to bring the non-democrats to the democratic, constitutional framework,” Koirala said in the Reuters interview, referring to the Maoists.