A leader looks back

Atmabrittanta: Late Life Recollections

By B.P. Koirala

(Compiled by Ganesh Raj Sharma

translated by Kanak Mani Dixit)

Himal Books, Kathmandu 2001

Pp. xvii+304

ISBN 99933 13 08 4, NRS 400

The late B.P. Koirala was a charismatic figure who shaped the history of Nepal with his indomitable will, fierce intellect and intense commitment to nationalism, democracy and socialism. His passing at the age of 68 years was most untimely as he died in harness, while combating an absolute monarchy and a feudal social order.  Born in 1914 into a family of patriots, he learnt to defy the powerful from his father, Krishna Prasad, who was a very determined person. While collecting customs in the Indo-Nepal border for the Rana government, the elder Koirala once sent the rag-like clothes of the commoners to Prime Minister Chandra Shamshere, wrapped in a bundle with the request to inspect them in order to see the people's penury and misery. Obviously, he had to be punished for this insolence, and the whole family had to flee the motherland, while close relatives who stayed behind were jailed or suffered otherwise. Thus, from a life of comfort, the Koirala family was reduced to extreme poverty. Krishna Prasad eked out a meagre living as a street vendor, selling knickknacks in the trains of Calcutta and elsewhere. Despite the hardships, he refused to compromise with the prime minister. One of his sons, Harihar, died of cholera at a very young age for want of treatment.