The Government of Nepal sent its high-ranking Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, to attend the funeral of Mr. Chandrashekhar on July 9 in order to express that country's solidarity with the "Young Turk" leader who had in the past fearlessly and defying protocol supported the people of Nepal in their struggle for restoration of democracy.

Mr. Poudel, who is the Minister of Peace and Reconciliation, is number two in the present cabinet headed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. and is a senior leader of the Nepali Congress party. A separate non-governmental, delegation consisting of Nepali Congress central committee members Ms Shailaja Acharya, Mr. Chakra Prasad Banstola and Mr. Shekhar Koirala, too attended the funeral in New Delhi.

The Nepali Congress Party professes socialism and is a member of the Socialist International. Mr. Chandrashekhar's association with the socialist movement in India including his membership of the Praja Socialist party till 1964, had brought him in touch with the Nepali Congress party and he had become a personal friends of the Koirala family. That is why a Nepali Congress delegation comprising members of the Koirala family (Shailaja Acharya is a niece of Prime Minister G.P. Koirala) attended the funeral of Mr. Chandrashekhar. The Prime Minister's elder brother the Late B.P. Koirala was a dear friend and in the 1940s he had become the general secretary of the Bihar Unit of the Congress Socialist Party. He used to live in Patna during his exile and the road on which the house where Koiralas used to stay has been renamed B.P. Koirala street.

Mr. Chandrashekhar's deep attachment to Nepal, particularly the Nepali Congress party, had into full play when the Nepali Congress in association with a seven party Leftist alliance (later named the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist or UML in short) had launched the movement for restoration of democracy in Nepal in February 1990.Parliamentary democracy which had been adopted in Nepal according to the 1959 Constitution and general elections held that year which had given its verdict for the Nepali Congress was trampled upon by King Mahendra on December 15,1960. It was restoration of that democracy and to replace the non-party Panchayat system, that this agitation was launched

This agitation had come about the time, the Rajiv Gandhi Government in India ,dissatisfied with the Nepali attitude on signing of a new trade and transit treaty had actually clamped an economic blockade which had caused misery to the people there since prices of essential items like petroleum products had risen considerably because of slowing down of exports from India.

In the midst of this crisis in Nepal, the Nepali Congress party, still under a ban imposed in 1960,organized a three-day national conference beginning January 18, 1990.A high-powered delegation from India attended this convention which included Mr. Chandrashekhar. According to the Hindustan Times, New Delhi, January 19,1990, Mr. Chandrashekhar was lustily cheered by the ten thousand strong delegates to the Nepali Congress convention when he had announced that the people of India were one with the Nepali Congress in their struggle for democracy. Incidentally, about 200 people representing the Panchayat system, had called on Mr. Chandrashekhar at his hotel in Kathmandu protesting against his speech at the Nepali Congress convention (The Times of India, January 20, 1990).

On February 22,Mr.Chanashekhar had said at a meeting organized by the CPI-M that India did not want to relationship with one person only (the King) .It was the people-to[people contact that mattered most.(TOI, Feb.23,1990).

On February 25,Socialist International had expressed its support to the agitation in Nepal for restoration of democracy(Indian Express, Feb,26,1990).

Although the then Prime Minister V.P. Singh did not –in fact he could not- openly support the agitation in Nepal, his party leader (Janata Dal) Chandrashekhar said at Sitamarhi in Bihar on Feb.25 that it was not proper to maintain silence over denial of democratic rights in any country describing it an internal affair. He said that in Nepal, democracy and civil rights were being trampled upon. He recalled that Nepalese leaders had supported Indian freedom movement (several Nepali Congress leaders had taken part in the August 1942 movement and was imprisoned by the British) and India could not and should not forget that.(TOI,NEW DELHI,Feb.26,1990).

Speaking in the same vein on March 8 at New Delhi's Sapru House, Mr. Chandrashekhar had said that ties with Nepal sated back to centuries. The ties were not shaped by anyone but the peoples of the two countries. The people of Nepal had played a great role in India's freedom struggle .Mr. B.P. Koirala and others had been imprisoned by the British then. He had also said "We respect Nepal's sovereignty, but sovereignty should lie with the people of Nepal" He had appalled to the King of Nepal to find an amicable solution by holding talks with the people.(TOI, March 10,1990).

On March 11, Mr. Chandrashekhar had told Mr. Arun Chako of the Sunday Observer:" ."I think India has no intention and should have no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of Nepal. Nepal is a sovereign nation and we should respect its sovereignty. But sovereignty rests with the people .If they want their democratic rights and multi-party system, they should be allowed to. This is not an internal matter. Democracy and civil liberties are universal questions. This has been recognized all over the world. And whenever civil liberties and democracy are denied, civilized people all over the world could raiser their voice .If something is happening outside our doors, India cannot keep quiet about it".

On March 23,Mr.Chanshekhar had come out openly against his own party government for not supporting the movement in Nepal. He was speaking in Lucknow at a meeting held to celebrate the birth anniversary of Dr.Ram Monohar Lohia. Mr, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, also supported the movement in Nepal saying he could not remain quiet when pro-democracy agitators were being tortured in Nepal )Indian Express, New Delhi, March 24,1990).

On March 30,reacting the police firing in Patan township in Nepal which caused death of eight agitators, Mr. Chandrashekhar said in the Lok Sabha that the Government of India should not enter into any agreement with the King of Nepal at the cost of the struggle being waged for democracy by the people of that country.

The agitation for restoration of democracy had succeeded on April 8,1990 and King Birendra had sworn in a Government with Mr. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress as the Prime Minister. The cabinet included members from the Nepali Congress, the UML, and royal nominees. A new Constitution providing for multi-party democracy and Constitutional Monarchy was promulgated by King Birendra on November 9, 1990.As if by coincidence, the same day, Mr. Chandrashekhar was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India.

By the way, on November 3, 1990,Shastri Ramchandran of the Times of India wrote: "One Indian politician who can win an election hands down in Nepal is the Janata Dal leader Chandra Shekhar .But since he cannot do that, the best the Nepalis hope is that he will succeed Mr. V.P. Singh as the Prime Minister. "His becoming Prime Minister will be very good for Nepal . The democratic forces here will receive a big boost", this is the expressed view. "From cabbies to tycoons, this is an oft-expressed hope in Kathmandu. Even cabinet ministers and radical activists, who believe that it is they who provide the leadership to the forces of change, do not hide their hope of seeing Mr. Chandrashekhar in the saddle."

Spurce: Nepal India, Democracy in the Making of Mutual Trust ,Dinesh Bhattarai and Pradip Khatiwada, now senior officers of the Foreign Ministry of Nepal.

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