Harihar Birahi
Senior Journalist
Political parties followed BP’s ideology but forgot the ideals: Harihar Birahi
Two-thirds of BP’s time and now: Harihar Birahi
Kathmandu. Senior journalist and democratic movement leader Harihar Birahi has said that the government led by BP Koirala and the two close governments led by Balendra Shah cannot be compared.
The Nepali Congress had won a huge majority in the parliamentary elections held on February 19, 2007.
But Birahi said that the situation of seven years and the present situation cannot be compared.
‘Just because the RSP got two-thirds of the seats cannot be compared with the two-thirds that came during BP’s time. The situation then and the situation now are different. At that time, there were political parties based on values. Voting was held on that basis. Now, the RSP is just preparing its ideology and policy,” he said, adding, “The party is formulating policies by organizing its first convention after the election.” The policy is not yet clear. They themselves are saying that there may be some shortcomings as they are new, do not doubt our intentions. Therefore, the people want principles, policies and programmes. The recent election results are not about policies, principles and ideas.”The people have voted for Nepal in the context of finding a new alternative in the latest political developments, environment, anger and instability,” he said.
‘Let’s say that they have a potato on their palate or a lottery. That’s the vote for the RSP. But there are new or young generation, educated people in the RSP. However, those in the leadership may not even know who got the ticket. The voters have not even seen their faces and they have not even gone to the people to thank the voters after the election,” Birahi said.
He said that there is no need to be disappointed with the government
or their role. “There is no need to be disappointed with the government or look for alternatives. It has come to power through a democratic process, it is trying to say that it will do something. We should be given some chances, we should wait for some time,” he said, “But the symptoms that are seen now are not as expected.” The pace at which the government was supposed to move forward as promised, new works were said to be carried out, but the work has not been done as per the promise. “
has been seen in the mentality of dismissing all the previous appointees, controlling the facilities provided to the press, adopting the policy that no media other than the government media is needed, not caring about the accountability of the parliament and not addressing the words of the lawmakers. Therefore, there is a concern that the vote will be misused. Recalling that BP Koirala had paid money to publish a newspaper to criticize him, Birahi said that BP Koirala was aware that criticism would prevent further mistakes.
‘BP was aware that criticism is not a bad thing. But now, I can’t hear criticism, if someone criticizes me, I get a shower of abuse. It’s the wrong thing to do, it’s the wrong strategy. It is a little relief as the court itself has decided one after another that all such activities are against the constitution,” he said.
Although there is a need to amend the constitution to be responsible to the constitution, Birahi said that all the political parties are committed to it.
“Who has not participated in an exercise of the Constitution. The party has not even made its political views clear. Even some of the main leaders of the party still want or want to bring about the monarchy. Such people are also sitting in the main place. In such a situation, there is no confidence that other parties will be ready to amend the constitution. There is also a fear that the country will go towards regression while trying to use the current from beginning to end. It is not the political parties that have such doubts. It is the common people who are watching the activities of the government. This has sparked debate among free citizens and intellectual societies,” he said.
He further said that the political parties—Nepali Congress, UML and CPN-UML—were working with restraint in the context of constitution amendment.
He believes that the parties are afraid that they will protest because they have lost power because they have lost power and will be able to run the government and eat it, but today the question will arise that another party should not run the government.
Senior journalist Birahi said he was not convinced that the incumbent government would snatch people’s rights in the name of development and change.
“I don’t think people in the government will dare to snatch their rights. There are well-known people within the party as well. Who knows the history of the world. You must have read how the revolution took place in France, how the monarchy was not only displaced by force, but the kings were cut off. In many countries, kings were cut off, not only kings, but also presidents and heads of state. Therefore, if you go against the will of the people, you may be convinced that the results will not be good. Today’s well-known people must know. Therefore, if any step is taken knowingly or unknowingly in the direction of snatching the rights of the people, then it is a suicidal step. There is no benefit for the government at all. As much as possible, we should continue the noble work done by the previous governments. People were not satisfied with the previous governments. Better changes, better reforms, more facilities, good governance and corruption-free conditions should be envisaged. It’s time to be more honest. It’s time to show the sincerity of our committal husband,” he suggested, “But if we don’t do that, it will be unfortunate.” The king could not sustain the change he wanted. He had the army and the police. There were those who said that if there was no king, the country would be ruined. The monarchy could not survive even when it spread rumors that another country would eat, half would go to India and half would go to China. Therefore, I think this government will also be restrained.”Problems arise when those in power try to do anything or move in an authoritarian manner in a democracy,” he said. “The previous governments had tried to dissolve the parliament which is not guaranteed by the constitution, to hold elections in between, to not listen to the opposition or the opposition at all, and to intensify the morale of the media from someone writing an article in the media. Almost all of them were done by the government. But they did not succeed. All the governments have said that the path was wrong and the present government should also take care,” he said.
Pointing out that the conflict between the government and the media is old, Birahi said that the conflict between the government and the media is old.
“The media’s job is to criticise the government and inform the people. The government’s job is to hide its mistakes and send its message through the government media, the media that it is nurturing. In a democratic country, the government does not use the print media very often. But the government is working to strengthen the state-run media. No government agency is required to advertise or provide any support to the private media. Adopting a policy of non-cooperation is an anti-press policy. It is an anti-private and free press. The anti-free press policy is an expression of the mentality that the voice of the people should not be heard. So it may be a wish, but it’s not sustainable,” he said.
According to Birahi, BP Koirala was not only a political leader but also a person with the dream of bringing forward progressive programs in every field.
His dream was that the nation should be strong and economic equality should be implemented among the people. He wanted the belief that there is no power greater than the people and that the people should realize it. BP has repeatedly said in many places that not only the right of the people to vote, but the environment should also be created by electing the right person. And the essence of BP’s philosophy or political philosophy was the supremacy of the people and the individual freedom of the citizens, that is, the highest individual freedom. He had a moral conviction for his commitment. Apart from honesty, the bribery was unimaginable,” Birahi recalled, adding, “Not only that, he resigned from the post of minister when a student was killed by a police bullet when he was the Home Minister.” He also asked him to resign from the post of Prime Minister for not working in accordance with the party’s policy when his elder brother Matrika Prasad Koirala was the Prime Minister. He expelled his own brother on the pretext of expelling the Prime Minister from the party for disobeying the party’s policies and decisions. But it also had to pay the price, there was a quarrel between brothers, there was also a conflict within the party. Matrika Prasad started another party. Later, he came back to meet again. BP had that kind of integrity. According to Birahi, many political changes have taken place according to BP’s thinking and wishes. There have also been improvements in the economic and social sectors. The desire to promulgate the constitution through the elected Constituent Assembly has also been fulfilled. It has also been established that the people are the supreme power.
He further said, “He wanted to build a socialism-oriented state. The Nepali Congress has already accepted it. Other parties have also not been able to present a progressive, liberal policy that is different from BP. Therefore, BP’s path will be useful for the country in the long run. Everyone needs to follow suit. But what is sad and worrying is that the parties followed BP’s ideology but abandoned his ideals. Adarsh met with an accident. “The current leaders do not have the tendency to fulfill their commitments to the moral values and values, implement the decisions taken by the party honestly, listen to the opponents, take the opponents along with them, convince them and listen to criticism,” he said.
He complained that even the leaders of the Nepali Congress have not been able to fulfill the responsibility of forwarding the ideology of BP and there is a tendency to chant and implement nationality, democracy and socialism.
“The NC leaders chanted the three mantras of nationalism, democracy and socialism, but they continued to commit many wrong, undesirable and unconstitutional deeds that should not be done under the guise of that. This created disgust among the people,” he questioned, adding, “Is this the way BP wanted? People are also asking such questions. Of course, there were people who tried to thwart BP, who called themselves visionaries. There were parties, too. There were those who said that the Congress was an anti-nationalist element. There were also those who said that BP is an India-oriented person. But everyone understood that the accusation was wrong. There is no doubt about the nationalism and nationalism envisioned by him. No one had any doubt about their faith in democracy and people. No communists have been able to bring more modern, progressive programs than his excellent programs. Still, there is dissatisfaction among the people. There is dissatisfaction with the Nepali Congress. There is also dissatisfaction with those who brought about this change. Because change was used for selfish gains. It’s not that there hasn’t been any achievement. Achievements were overlooked. The good aspects were not communicated to the people. “
But in the coming days, if we learn from the mistakes and follow the guidance of BP Koirala, then everyone will be benefited,” he said.
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