Condolence to the Koirala family.

BP Koirala was right! His brother GPK was a "hawaldar" NOT a "general." He displayed 3 key characteristics of a hawaldar.

* Hawaldars are good at tactics NOT strategy. Since 1990 Jana Andolan, GPK pursued "tactical" moves to keep his opponents off-balance and become the PM no less than 4 times (1991, 1998, 2000, 2006). He did not give thoughts to how his tactics fit into the long-term strategy of making (a) NC, the "permanent majority" party (b) Nepal, a vibrant democracy where both government and bureaucracy were efficient and uncorrupted, and together delivered economic dividends to the people.

* Hawaldars think of the "spoils of war". We know how GPK's family and cronies mis-used the State's assets while in power.

* Hawaldars display great personal courage. GPK was a "bahadur" compared to his peers especially the Maoist supreme Puspa Kamal Dahal, who has probably never fired a gun.

If the definition of success is "to leave the world behind better than you found it" then GPK's "political life" may not be considered a success.

Kunda,

I am a bit surprised at your article. Let me put something here.

Koirala fought against several forces in his life. Rana--and with that, he antagonized old monied class such as Pandey, Dixit and A class Ranas too. They naturally always found fault with him. Then he fought against Panchayat. Those who benefitted from Panchayat has no good thing to say about him, except for resorting to ad hominem attack (such as calling him hawaldar even in his obituary). Third he fought against hard core lefties who wanted to destroy the nation. Their ideologies was shaped in their training camps in India, and not it has nothing to do with post 1990 governments.

Kunda, I am not his fan, but you disappoint me alot. You should take a lesson in writing obituary and learn to be gracious.

GPK's legacy has been tainted by his avaricious relatives, but that is only a small side of the man. Look around, and you will see that most of the rich people these days are either UML, Maoists or Kingji supporters. How much of a manipulation the NC did should be put in a proper context.

GPK shoulders some responsibility for he was the prime minister for so long, but he was the prime minister at a time when royal palace was the most powerful (or the Maoists), and these powerful forces wanted to make sure that he failed. Meanwhile, his relatives fought for the spoil of their long drawn struggle. That is the proper context to look at GPK's life.

GPK has done both good and bad things for Nepal and Nepalis.  One of the good thing he did was to get rid of Gyanendra. He was very educated, so he had very limited and narrow mindness.  He DEFINITELY  could have left a better Nepal and happy Nepalis.

As for bad things, he nepotism and corruption - divide and rule, lack of economic ideas and progress, a struggling Nepal, Nepalis suffering everyday for a suqre meal or a small home, how bad is that ?

Jai Nepal  

"But the 85-year-old could not fulfill his secret dream of making his daughter Sujata Koirala Nepal's first woman Prime Minister though he brought her to a sniffing distance."

Pretty much summarizes his life - mission, achievements and shortcomings - what a loss.

1. Koirala had so much godwill and an oppertunity to develop the country during his first innings. and subsequently......he blew it away. He has done great injustice to the Nepalese people.   

2. He is credited with abolishing the Monarchy together with the Maoists...what has this achieved? Nothing! No water, no elecricity, no consitution, no peace...but uncollected garbage, increasing human insecurity, deepening poverty, autocratic political parties, autocratic goverance tendencies , and on and on 

3. Agree completely that 'The legacy that Koirala left behind was one of nepotism, corruption, political infighting, and all the rest'. 

4. His demise is in no way a loss to the country. In fact it could be  a boon if all those spineless so called leaders in the Congress party learn the lesson.

5. I hope we can now not see and ehar less of his corrupt daughter in pulic life.

Jai Nepal.

अमेरिका देखि संसारकोलागि उच्च प्रबिधिहरु सिर्जना गर्ने र निर्माण गर्ने सिलिकन भ्याली (Sillican Valley) भित्र एउटा कहावत छ, त्यो के भने- " (Microsoft) माइक्रोसफ्टले अग्रिम(Advance) चेक लेख्छ र त्यो चेकलाइ (Intel) इन्टेलले अग्रिम क्यास गर्छ !" यसको अर्थ के भने, Microsoft को कम्प्युटर साइन्टिस्टहरुले कल्पनागरेको software हरुकोलागि चाहिने specification अनुसार Intel ले Processor वा Hardware डिजाइन र उत्पादन गर्छ !

माथिको कहावतको deduction (निचोड) के हुन् आयो भने पुरा "कम्प्युटर सिस्टमको" लागि पहिलो सर्त Hardware हो, अथवा   Hardware को अस्तित्व बिना Software अस्तित्वमा आउदैन र यो पनि त्येतिकै सत्य हो Software को अनुपस्थितिमा Hardware खोक्रो बट्टा मात्र रहन्छ !

स्वर्गीय गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइरालासंग पूरा "प्रजातन्त्र सिस्टम" को तुलना सोहि मुताबिक गर्न सकिन्छ ! गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइराला प्रजातन्त्रको Hardware आयामको अथक (relentless) अभियेन्ता (engineer) वा पहरदार हुन ! प्रजातंत्रको Hardware आयामको essential पक्षहरु "बहुदालिये ब्यवस्था", "आध्याविक चुनाव", र "शक्ति प्रिथिकरण" हुन ! यधपि: प्रजातंत्रको Software आयाम सम्बन्धमा गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइरालाको भूमिकामा बहस हुन सक्छ ! तर ६० बर्षको उनको राजनितिक जीवनमा गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइरालाले नेपालीहरुलाई लगाएको "गुण" भनेको इतिहासको कठिन मोड़हरुमापनि "पुरातन नेपाली शासकहरुसंग" प्रजातंत्रको Hardware आयाममा कहिले समझौता गरेनन !

हाम्रा बिशाल अपेक्षाहरु कहिले पूरा हुन्दैनन त्यसैले हामी जिउंदो छउन्जेल कुनै महत्वपूर्ण मान्छेलाइ महान देखदैनौ र हरपल गाली नै गरि रहन्छौ ! जब उसको मृत्यु हुन्छ उसलाई समष्टि (bird eye view ) ले हेर्न बाध्य हुन्छौ र totality मा स्वर्गीय गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइराला नेपालको प्रजातांत्रिक इतिहासको एक महान "हीरो" हुन !

स्वर्गीय गिरिजा प्रसाद कोइरालाको आत्माले चिर शान्ति पाओस भनी श्रदा पूर्वक प्रार्थना गर्दछु !

Guys, is it the right time to express so much bitterness? Could not those criticisms wait for a while?

I am not his party supporter but for god's sake, was not he Nepal's Prime minister , therefore desereves some decency at this moment?

Its bad for his untimely death but good for Nation..We wish never take re birth from nepal.

Jaya Nepal

Like many, I am confused as to how I should react to the death of no doubt a tall figure - both figuratively speaking and in real life.

Many of the Nepalese that I come across deride Koirala for raping this beautiful country to the point where it has stopped bleeding because hardly any blood is left to bleed. Even more deride him for a simple fact that he, as a leader, put himself, his family and his friends above the rest of the populace - the very people who gave him the stature and the opportunity to rule.

Though saddened must be some people who had direct links with him, many more like me have breathed a sigh of relief and a sense of hope as Girija breathed his last breadth.

I hope this event will usher in a fresh band of leadership in Nepal who will be pay more attention to policy than politics, who will pay more attention to economy than to their own personal well-being. But like many Nepalese, I too have far too often seen every phase of opportunity being squandered by the leadership of this nation, and am therefore, cautiously optimistic. 

It is very uncivilized and more so non-Nepalese to say bad words to a deadman whose kaz-kriya is not yet finished.

However Kunda should be thanked for writing a beutiful peace on Girijababu. Is it a loss? Yes. A great manupulator and so dictatorial? Yea. A champion of democracy? Yes. But sometimes he had his own definition. Was he different than other politicians? No and so he was not well above others. Was he taller than Ganeshman? Yes in height but not on stature.

But was he a great asset? Overall yes. He changed Nepal in a way no body could do before.

However, Girijababu will be remembered for a long time. I will remember him for his contribution to bringing democracy back. I want to remember him as Commander in Chief of Jana-Andolan 2. Rest goes with him. Let he rest in peace.

I deeply express my most heartfelt condolences for the physical disappearance of my great leader Girija Prasad Koirala , a committed political leader and the President of the Nepali Congress. He was a historical leader, and also 4 times Prime Minister of Nepal. He tirelessly fought for the wellbeing of the Nepali people, the just causes and peace.
He almost devoted his entire life to the democratic cause, in which he suffered the hardship of prison during the time of King Mahendra following the 1960 royal coup . He actively involved in the 1990 Jana Andolan which led to the abrogation of the Panchayat rule and the introduction of a multi-party politics in the country. He became a symbol of the Peace , and won respect and acknowledgement not only in Nepal but through out the world.
His absence from the political scene, which he had so long dominated, will leave a void, which I hope the collective leadership of the Nepali Congress will be able to fill.
I on behalf of my Company's workmen (Everest Containers Pvt. Ltd. Hetuda) pay profound tribute to the deceased leader and also express condolences to his family. May His soul rest in peace.

TG Ramaswamy
Everest Containers Pvt Ltd. HID. Hetauda

Dear Ordinary Nepali, You sound more like an extra ordinary Nepali and beneficiery with priviledges received with Girija's mismanagement of the country and party. An obituary should not be full of praises that one does not deserve. A biased obituary with only praises and achievements is an old fashioned style. I feel Kunda has done justice to Girija babu and family in his writing. This is not to say that Girijababu has no achievements. He has. Many. However, of the most astonishing one that I would say is that Girijababu consciously chose to be Sujata's father than a statesman. He had ample opportunities to be a statesman. In almost every occasion, he disappointed the countrymen. Many of his family members perhaps compelled him to do so. There are a very few individuals in our most recent history (except three Bahadurs being Surya, Lokendra and Sher) like Girija who have had so much of  opportunities to lead our country in right directions. All of them, including Girija, have bungled and failed hopelessly from whichever angle you look at.

I am sorry to say that Girija chose to be Sujata's father rather than country's father. There was no reason for him to impose incompetent and looser Sujata to a cabinet post, much to the chargin of her own NC colleagues. Instead, he should have groomed her to be a party organiser and ask her to work from the grassroot. Where was she during the Andolans? Did Girija, or Sujata, for that matter think that the country was their personal property? Pushing incompetent Sujata against the wishes of the NC is going to be the legacy of Girija and burden of the Nepali people.

May his soul rest in peace.

To Kamal Kishor and Safar,

Please stop pontificating. People will express themselves the way the feel about the situation. All of us feel sorry for Girija's demise (because he gave so many years to what he felt was public service). Look at the end result; opinions starting from Kunda, it is not even mixed, it is tragically skewed despite our culture to say nothing critical of a just deceased person. It is the frustration of people speaking loud and clear. He and those who have been at the helms of affair in Kathmandu all these years either by popular mandate or through Machiavellian moves bear the responsibility for the state of affairs in Nepal.

Well... Girja could have become the Mandela of Nepal had he raised himself above Petty politics and vested interest.

Oppertunities like this come to one only once in a life time. Well he missed the Boat.... Nepal will keep having to look for a Stateman to get us out of this mess.

Dear reader,

My Condolences to the Koirala family.

GPK was somebody we all are.His presence is gone,however his life is the example of all your lives.He was just one of those who thought he could make a difference,but eventhough having all of us around he couldn't,because one hand washes the other.He did not start out to be this person you describe.It is we all in the Big Family.That is the ugly truth.Just read all the coments.Many of us are even scared to use  own names.At least those who are objective,accept that he was just a human.Was he worse than many of us?I don't think so,he was just in a public eye,but many of us are doing  and will still do the same he did.As for the chance for the party to allow it to redefine itself as the party of the people rather than a clan-based political entity,is dreaming unreal dreams,because everyone in the party had a voice,had a chance to do,but like I said,they are not different from him.If everyone of us will just ask ourselves,who I am,what did I do to make Nepal a better place.Remember to ask ourselves who we are as a family,what are our values and what I as a member of a family,the big family Nepal,am doing for the better future of my big family.Not all means to succeed  are good,even for the sake of the Family.I know that for a fact,I was in such a turmoil myself and I didn't like it.I am glad I was strong enough to get rid of things I was not proud of myself and it makes me feel better.If the future generations have turned out the way they are,it is because of the family,of the community,of the big Nepali community.There is no one to blame,accept the mistakes ,keep open mind and everyone has a chance to be better,starting from today.It is up to us,carry as much a you can ,accept those who try to do something about it,help them if you see the better future for doing it,be strong enough to say your point of view,but keep going for the values you want in your  family,and that will be Nepal we want ,change if needed,but everyone has to participate and stronger must support not use the weekest member of the family,just because the weekest has no acceess due to the position he is in.

People need to have the basics every human deserves,shelter,food,health,love and care,education, which  millions of people in the world have.Restructure and start with basics ,I think it is the priority for the whole Nepal and everyone involved.I would like to give just very simple example.Maslow's hierarchy of needs.I wish every political leader or the one who says he is doing for the betterment of the big family,will have this pyramid in his office ,and succeeding using only moral values acceptable and respectful to each member of the family.

I liked living in Nepal and wish each  member of this diversy family do participate in taking care of each member of the Big Family,Nepal .

Let the mistakes be acknowledged,let's not be by standers,it's the work that transforms,work,not words.Take care of everyone in the family.

Mrs.Vija Srestha

@Chiranjivi,

In case you don't know, all comments here are moderated-- you see the comments that the editor wants us to see. No wonder they are skewed.

As for me being extra ordinary and privileged, what to say! Yes, I was privileged in that (1) before 2046, I wouldn't have received passport to travel (2) before 2007, I wouldn't have gotten chance to go to school  and thanks in part to Girijababu, I got chance to go to school, and to go abroad for study. It still makes me one of the thousands in country--not the privileged one.

Our country is in a bad state but that is more of a contribution of Panchayat, Rana and Maoists. To think it is due to girijababu is a biased view coming out of those who were privileged due to association with the Ranas, Panchayat and the Maoists.

He had his flaws, and made many mistakes, but assessing his life in its entirety I think he will go down in history as one of the greats, in the same league as BP, Ganeshman, and Manmohan. He was always under-rated by the chattering classes, and reviled by the Kathmandu elite, because he was no orator, or thinker, and did not have the immediate appeal of a charismatic politician. To them he was a fumbling usurper from Biratnagar. Yet, he towered above everyone and humbled them all in the end. In this cacophony of insults and praise, I have a few observations:

1. To say he spent ALL his life for democracy is a cliche, but think about this: when the democracy movement succeeded in 1990, he was 66, past retirement age. He began his public career AFTER having given all his adult life to the cause of a freer Nepal. It was not for money, or personal glory. He toiled like a loyal soldier in an understated manner, mostly in the shadow of his illustrious brother BP. Ten years in jail, another 10 in exile; the maddening negotiations with Mahendra and Surya Bahadur, and later Birendra, the revolutionary adventures, lives of cadres, frustrations, doubts, and betrayals. You have to be built quite differently to withstand all that for 30 years. That's not even counting his struggles against the Ranas, or during the unstable decade after 1950. Even though he was President of Morang Congress, BP denied him a ticket to the historic elections of 1959.  

2. He became PM quite unexpectedly in 1991, and faced the most hostile atmosphere imaginable. EVERYONE hated him – from the royalists and the army, to the communists and a Congress fringe. They obstructed him, and wanted him to fail. We must measure his achievements against the counterfactual of what might have happened if Nepal's opposition was more mature in the 1990s. Anyone with less willpower than GPK would not have survived the atmosphere of poison, recklessness and hostility that Kathmandu harbored in the early 1990s.

3. He died a simple man in Kathmandu, with no notable personal property. He was not personally corrupt, but people say he tolerated abuses under his watch, including by his ministers (like Khum Bahadur and Bijay Gacchedaar) and his incompetent daughter. That's probably true, and he should have done more to curtail corruption or perceptions of such acts. But no one ever pointed a finger at GPK for amassing personal fortune.  No charge was ever brought, or proven in a court of law. Some men of GPK's era were in politics for a higher cause. Think of the ethnically eclectic Sundarijal-6 who stayed in King Mahendra's prison without trial for 8 years (BP, Ganeshman, KP, Diwansingh Rai, Ram Narayan Mishra and Yogendraman Sherchan) when so many Congressis defected to the Panchayat. Of course, GPK could be arrogant. The adulation and the raw power got to him at times. Sycophancy on the part of supporters and vitriol from everyone else led him to make some bad decisions. Some bad decisions in a life of 86 years. But anything that damns or incriminates him directly? I never saw anything credible.   

4. People say he was authoritarian inside the Congress. But they forget that he was always ELECTED within his party with around 80% of the votes. NC had an executive presidential system that gave much leeway to the elected president. Yes, he should have done more to institutionalize decision making, etc. But we should not forget that he came with a moral stature of having kept the flame of NC alive for 30 years. There was a sense of authority in him and he exercised it. If his cadres thought he was abusing their trust, they had the choice of defeating him in the General Conventions. Many tried, seldom garnering more than one-fifth of the vote. At times Koirala's perceived heavy-handedness  was counter-productive. At times it served the country well, like when he singlehandedly gave the destructive Maoists a safe landing saving Nepal from a slow ruin. Baburam and Prachanda have testified to his decisiveness. And let's not forget that GPK began his negotiations with the Maoists after the NC Central Committee empowered him to do so.

5. Forget his blunt public utterances about Males and Mandales being the same. In private, I am told he was most courteous and civil. I know of no instance when he insulted other leaders in public. In return, everyone loved to vilify him in public for 20 years. Many people want to see in him a villain, a scheming politician. I'm sure he plotted and devised tactics to defeat people who were out there to defeat him. Who wouldn't? And who would suffer opportunistic disloyalty on the part of those whose careers he groomed? I think leaders should have the right to be disappointed too.   

GPK did what he did against a backdrop of immense adversity, created by the Right as well as the Left, sometimes in unison. Yet he prevailed. In sum:   

(1) He was a rock, who never rested, and never compromised on his principle that Nepal needed a democratic system to secure both the prosperity and dignity of each man and woman.

(2) He opened up Nepal economically after Panchayati stagnation, unleashed the highest rates of economic growth the country has ever seen between 1991 and 1994. He let the parliamentary system follow its course, err, and mature, before the Maoist onslaught intensified in the late 1990s.

(3) When ambitions of both the royalists and extreme communists looked like they were going to drag Nepal down the road of further ruin, he stood to humble them all. Gyanendra lost the monarchy. And GPK made the Maoists swallow their hated pill for a plural, competitive, democratic Nepal.    

All your human failing and foible, we will forgive. All your acts of greatness, we shall celebrate.  Adieu Girijababu.

It is our tradition not to speak ill of a deceased person. GPK was no ordinary person. Therefore, the truth must be spoken when you write about him. He was a great 'havaldar". He had so much power, yet he did not use it properly even till his last breath. Both NC and the country are in shambles because of his lack of vision and leadership, or shall I say he had a narrow vision.

What intrigues me most is why his step son, Suresh, was not the one with Sujata to light a funeral pyre to GPK. Why was he not in the picture? I understand GPK raised him as his own son. GPK even gave his name as father to Suresh's citizenship certificate. It shows the great heartedness of GPK that he treated Suresh as his own son.

Did we not hear of the step son because of the old thinking that step son is not a son even if you raise as your son? Or is it just because Suresh is out because he is not or chose not to be in the limelight of politics?

I was a step son of my father who had raised me. When he passed away, I lit the funeral pyre with full rituals with my (step) brothers. It could be that Sureshji was there and media did not focus on him. May be.

Congratulations to Kunda for writing this. It is not easy to say these things when a person has just deceased.  Thanks for showing your guts, Kunda.  We are not talking about an ordinary person.  We are talking about our country's future, a party's future, and the peace process itself.  Yes, Girija was a towering personality,  and that too because he worked very hard to quell any other leadership challenges especially within his own party.  Those who say Girija had not been a hindrance are on denial.  He was not a perfect leader, and there is nothing wrong in admitting it.  This piece was important to come out at this point to grab the attention of the people to see what he did and did not do. Or what he could have done especially when he had all the opportunity.  Instead, he chose to promote his daughter.  After reading all the articles on Girija the past a couple of days, I must admit that Girija P. Koirala will be remembered as a most polarizing political figure in Nepal's history.  How will NC come out of their political ashes will be interesting to watch. 

The only time I was impressed with Girja was in 1990, when he spoke in the first mass meeting after the Panchayat rule had ended.  Girja had said that the restoration of democracy was a victory for everyone, even Panchas. I recall he was criticized and attacked for saying so becuase Panchas were then a hated and unpopular bunch. But what he said was profound and comes right out of the thoughts and theories of Paulo Freire. Having heard that, I thought our county was in good hands of a great visionary leader. I need not go into what kind of a leader Girja proved to be as I would just be repeating what many commentators above have said.   

Dear Citizen,

Lets not hurry to write the history of this nation. History should be written in future only after proper assessment and judgements. If I borrow the Maoist language, Girija should be presented/remembered like this " roop ma herda jhwatta ramro jasto bhaye pani saaar ma naramro"

If we just look at the face value he fought for peace and democracy but the real story is totally different. Hez so lucky that hez gone respectfully and won't be here with us to see more to be disasters for which all the credits goes to him. He has left Nepal in jeopardy, worsened law and order situation, lost the 1990's Democracy which we already had in hand  and left behind us Maoist Democracy, fractured nation, fractured society.

History to be written in future will definitely take these factors in acount. He will be remembered by the coming generations who is going to suffer a lot.

end of the eternal strugle, finally in a honrable sleep

eyes in the closed vision, tears from the ears

call from above, friendship vanished in dust

health turned out to bee heavenly enemy

just the matter of time, it's catching all

end of the day, end of an era

poverty made us a chee.may.key ka dummy

economy is mummy

Reality seems Hari.Shankar.Tree.Pathi in Bill.tea

Girija Prasad Koirala was a father of nepali citizen. He has done many thing for us. Some work which he has done for selfish, is hates him. Just as Lauda Aeroplane, relationship of his family etc.

But I think in the end of his life he was doing good work.

Girija ko sahaj anta vayekoma Condolence to the koirala family at Biratnagar. Aba Nepal nissashine bhayena grand design bat.

Hawaldarko pakadbat mukti payeko ma congressjana lai shuvkaman 

 Be careful and democrat in the reorganization of strong nepali congress both inhouse and out as well . Sabai pada nirwachanbatai purti hune byabastha gara , Natra tike ra chandane tatha khatmunika sulsuleharule purai sangathan bitholne chha