Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (8 September 1914 – 21 July 1982), was a Nepalese revolutionary, statesman, politician, novelist, and one of the founding leaders of the Nepali Congress. He was the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal, serving from 1959 to 1960, until the royal coup of 1960 led by King Mahendra. He played a leading role in Nepal’s democratic movements, particularly the 1950–1951 revolution, which brought an end to the 104-year-long Rana rule of Nepal. He was the brother of former prime ministers Matrika Prasad Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala. He was also the grandfather of Bollywood actors Manisha Koirala and Siddharth Koirala.
B. P. Koirala was the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal. He held the office for 18 months before being deposed and imprisoned on the orders of King Mahendra. He spent the rest of his life largely in imprisonment and exile, during which his health steadily deteriorated.
B. P. Koirala is widely regarded as one of the greatest political personalities in Nepal. He was a strong advocate of democracy and argued that in a poor country like Nepal, political freedoms alone were not sufficient without socio-economic transformation. He promoted the idea of democratic socialism as a solution to Nepal's underdevelopment.
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Early life
The second son of Krishna Prasad Koirala, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was raised in Banaras. Until the age of 14, he attended a school established by his father. Afterwards he joined the Harishchandra School in the city. He began writing when he was in the ninth grade.
The British Raj charged him and his brother, Matrika Prasad Koirala, with having contacts with terrorists in 1930. They were arrested and set free after three months. Because of this, Bishweshwar began to study at the Scottish Church College in Calcutta as per his father's wishes. Towards the end of 1930, he left college and returned to Banaras. In 1932, he completed his intermediate level of studies. His father again insisted that his son join Scottish Church College in Calcutta. So for the second time, he joined the college, but left it soon afterwards. In 1934, he completed his bachelor's degree in Economics and Politics from Banaras Hindu University. He also earned a degree in law from the University of Calcutta in 1937, and practised for several years in Darjeeling.
While still a student, he became involved in the Indian nationalist movement. In 1934, he joined the Indian National Congress. During World War II, he was interned by the British in Dhanbad for two years (1942–1944).
Political career
Following his release, with Indian independence imminent, he set about trying to bring change to Nepal. In 1947 he founded in India the socialist Nepali National Congress, which in 1950 became the Nepali Congress Party. On 9 March 1947, Koirala crossed over to Nepal to help his brother Girija Prasad Koirala instigate the Biratnagar jute mill strike. He was arrested along with Girija Prasad Koirala and four other National Congress leaders and taken with his fellow agitators to Kathmandu via a 21-day long, slow walk across the hills. The prisoners' march attracted much attention and helped to radicalise the peasants whose villages lay en route. The Koiralas along with other detainees were kept in a Kathmandu bungalow but were soon released after a 27-day hunger strike, popular protests, and at the request of Mahatma Gandhi in August 1947. In 1990, Prime Minister Judd Shamsher had deported Mahatma Baundas and Mahatma Sonai Das on the issue of untouchability. He started the movement by staying at the house of Mahatma Sonai Das Yadav, currently in Sunsari, Rajganj, Morang. After meeting Mahatma Baundas Yadav in Banaras, Mahatma Sonai Das helped B.P. Koirala with 51 rupees on Guru Purnima day in 1990 to end the Rana rule of Nepal. Later, Nepali Congress was formed. In 2015, B.P. Koirala won the election by sitting at the house of Mahatma Sonai Das Yadav at booth number 32, Rajganj, Morang. Mahatma Sonai Das made his disciple Suryanath Das Yadav a minister from Siraha.
Koirala went back to India, and began looking for arms to storm Kathmandu. Finally, Koirala led the Revolution of 1951, which overthrew Nepal's 104-year-old Rana regime. The last Rana prime minister was dismissed in October 1951 when the Rana-Congress coalition cabinet (in which Koirala served for nine months as the Home minister) broke apart. Koirala then concentrated on developing the Nepali political structure. King Mahendra responded with a new constitution enabling free parliamentary elections to take place in 1959. Only a fragmented parliament was expected, but Koirala's Nepali Congress scored a landslide, taking more than two-thirds of the seats in the lower house. After several weeks of significant hesitation, Mahendra asked Koirala to form a government, which took office in May 1959.
Koirala led his country's delegation to the United Nations and made carefully poised visits to China and India, then increasingly at odds over territorial disputes. Yet, he was in trouble at home almost from the beginning. His land reform measures, especially the revision of the tenancy laws so easily passed by parliament, deeply offended the landed aristocracy which had long dominated the army. King Mahendra, on 15 December 1960, suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, dismissed the cabinet, imposed direct rule, and for good measure imprisoned Koirala and his closest government colleagues. Many of them were released after a few months, but Koirala, though he was suffering from throat cancer, was kept imprisoned without trial until 1968.
Literature
While B. P. Koirala is considered one of the most charismatic political leaders of Nepal, he was also one of the most well-read and thoughtful writers of Nepalese literature. He wrote short stories and novels, and some poems. Koirala began writing short stories in Hindi.
His first stories were published in Banaras in Hansa, a Hindi literary magazine edited by Prem Chand (India's Tolstoy). His first Nepali short story "Chandrabadan" was published in Sharada, a Nepali literary magazine in 1935. Koirala was very good at depicting the character and mind of women. Four other stories of Koirala were included in Katha Kusum (an anthology of Nepali stories), published in 1938 in Darjeeling. As a social realist, with good psychological insight as he was first writer to write stories and novels based on human psychology in history of Nepalese literature, Koirala had established himself as one of the most important Nepali short story writers by 1938. Doshi Chashma, Koirala's anthology of sixteen short stories, was published in 1949. He was one of the greatest writer to contribute to the Nepali literature.
Koirala was very busy in the 1950s as he was often found amidst the political situations of Nepal. He was, however, able to write an incomplete novel Hitlar ra Yahudi (Hitler and the Jews) in the form of travelogue. The 1960s were very productive for Koirala in terms of his literary output. He wrote many novels and short stories in jail during 1960–68. They include: Teen Ghumti (Three Turns), 1968; Narendra Dai (Brother Narendra), 1969; Sumnima (A story of the first Kirata woman), 1969; Modiain (The Grocer's Wife), 1980; Shweta Bhairavi (The White Goddess of Terror), 1983; Babu Ama ra chora (Father, mother and sons), 1989; and an incomplete autobiography Mero Katha (My Story), 1983, and many more yet to be published.
Koirala also has dozens of political essays including the following: "Rajatantra ra Lokatantra" ("Monarchy and Democracy"), 1960; "Thichieka Janata Jagisake" ("The Oppressed People Rise"), 1969; "Rastriyata Nepalko Sandarbhama" ("Nationalism in the Context of Nepal"), 1970; "Kranti: Ek Anivaryata" ("Revolution: An Absolute Necessity"), 1970; "Panchayati Vyavastha Prajatantrik Chaina" ("The Panchayat System is not Democratic"), 1978; "Prajatantra ra Samajvad" ("Democracy and Socialism"), 1979; and "Rastriya Ekata ko Nimti Ahwan" ("A Call for National Reconciliation"), 1980.
Personal life
B. P. Koirala was married to Sushila Koirala, a Nepalese classical dancer, theater director, and philanthropist.
Legacy
The following institutions have been set up in his memory:
In 1992, the B. P. Koirala Nepal Health Foundation was inaugurated by the prime ministers of India and Nepal with the objective of supplementing the normal cooperation and interaction at the Government-to-Government level by providing statesmen, media persons, etc. to constantly nurture and further enhance the understanding and friendship between two countries. The trust is a symbol of Nepali renaissance.
In 1992, the Government of Nepal has established the B. P. Koirala Memorial Planetarium, Observatory and Science Museum Development Board in 1992 in order to establish Planetaria, Observatories and Science Museums in Nepal & conduct research activities in the area of Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology.
B. P. Koirala Memorial Trust (B. P. Trust) was established in 2000 in memory of the late B. P. Koirala. It is the only legal institution approved by the government of Nepal to collect royalties, claim copyrights and allow legal permission regarding B. P. Koirala. B. P. Trust receives financial support from the government. The establishment of this Trust in B. P. Koirala's memory can be considered as a remarkable achievement.
Also, various programs are organized in Nepal as well as outside Nepal to remember his selfless contributions to Nepal.
Honors
Nepal Ratna Man Padavi (2018) – Posthumously awarded to Bishweshwar Parsad Koirala by the then President of Nepal, Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Bangladesh Liberation War Honour (2012) – Posthumously awarded to Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala.