BP Koirala and Ganesh Man Singh are separated and kept in solitary confinement for the first time in the four months since incarceration. Both refuse to give any statement to the assistant zonal commissioner without the presence of their lawyers. Instead of exacerbating his depression, solitary confinement raises BP's morale. He thinks it transforms him into a public figure, and gives him responsibilities which he now needs to live up to.
24 March, 1977
[page contains entry continued from 21 Arpil]
25 March
Sundarijal
GM was taken away to be lodged separately in the new cell whose construction was so feverishly completed this morning. The Ass. Anchaladhish came and said that we must be kept separately kept till certain processes of inquiry are completed. GM was taken away at about 11:35 AM and a team of officials with the Ass. Anchaladhish, government advocate and others came to take my statement. GM must have gone through the same procedure. We had decided unless legal advice of our . is made available to us, and we decided who our legal advisers will be after consulting our men, we would not make any statements. GM must have taken this stand because they didn't take long to deal with him. They came to my camp at about 12:30 PM. They were with me for 45 minutes.
GM is probably lodged in the newly constructed jail just outside my jail where walls tipped with electrified wires are visible from my [cell]. There appears to be a small courtyard in front of his cell which is enclosed in high walls. The gate of the new prison is of strong iron, and I believe the security guard has been reinforced. This is amazing-in view of the fact that these extraordinary security measures are against our escape-we have voluntarily returned to Nepal. This morning I told the Ass. Anchaladhish that they must be aware that ours was a voluntary return and that it was through no successful efforts of theirs that we are here, but they behave as if we were apprehended with great difficulty. I told him ours was a political decision, therefore even if we are sent off we wouldn't leave the country. I would go back to my house at Chabhel and GM to his at Thamel. I told the Ass. Anchaladhish that we must get the normal privileges of prisoners-ie regular interviews and correspondence, and a supply of books and newspapers. He explained his inability to do anything on the matter, but I reminded him since I am kept in detention on his orders, he can't avoid responsibility as to the condition of my imprisonment. Poor officer!
Now real solitary confinement has started for me and GM. It was already a solitary imprisonment but with the departure of GM the solitude has increased hundred-fold. We used to discuss things and his very persona was a kind of assurance that life was still normal. I don't know how long this will be maintained. The Ass. Anchaladhish said they were lodging us separately till our statement to the police was recorded. But since we refused to cooperate, I don't know what they will do now. Moreover, all the officials of Nepal are liars-including army officers-they are paid to propagate, speak and act lies.
26 March
Sundarijal
Spent the day in solitary confinement. I find a sense of firmness and fearlessness welling up in me. There is absolutely no agitation in my mind,whether intellectually considered. When you think of it, the deprivation of even a solitary companion is awful. But I am really very composed-which is not a worked-up stimulated courage that is born out of desperation. I am calm, and have become really normal. As a matter of fact, all these days I used to be agitated and, except for the last few days, in great mental agony-which is not my usual reaction to situations however desperate or difficult. Now I am normal. This is a difficult situation. I have to face it coolly. I have suddenly become a political being now. When I returned here my suffering was that of a man with a family of dear ones. It was private griefs that made me so unhappy. I am, since yesterday, no more a private family man. I am a public figure, a leader of a movement that has a high ideal and cause. This transformation from the private to the public has given me strength.
It now appears that the king has decided to take a political line not to allow the narrow legal process to take its course. He is ill-advised to do this but the atmosphere of fraud that he created to project his image, leadership and authority, the first victim is he himself. So far as I am concerned, I am all right.
Yesterday, at about 11.15 AM, I developed a very strong pain in the region of my liver-excruciating pain that made even normal breathing difficult. The pain last for about 15 minutes. I asked for a doctor this morning and Dr Basnet came. He said that I have an enlarged liver. He feels I should take some medicine to correct my heart condition.the missing of heart beats. He doesn't feel there is any serious trouble, such conditions are produced by reasons other than heart condition like gas in the stomach, etc etc. But he also says such conditions shouldn't be allowed to continue so I suggested medicines. About liver too he will send some medicine. This doctor prescribes a large number of medicines, whereas Bhattarai is infamous for less medicine. My bp is 122/80. Good. Worked washing laundry and bathed.
