Nepal: The Search for a National Consensus

Abstract

The decade of the 1960's opened with Nepal's foremost political figures, King Mahendra and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, in contention for national leadership and closed with these two leaders wrapped in the same unequal conflict. In late 1960, the King asserted his power by overturning the popularly elected Nepali Congress Government and putting Prime Minister Koirala behind bars. The King is the only significant political force within Nepal today, and Koirala is still his most implacable and effective critic. Although the 1960 coup settled the question of power, it did not serve to build a national consensus behind the King's economic and political programs. 1969 opened with not unreasonable hopes that the King and Koirala might overcome their long term enmity and agree to some kind of cooperative leadership capable of creating a high degree of national consensus. The year ran out, however, on the same notes of disappointment and frustration that have been sounded following other unsuccessful attempts to create such unity throughout the decade. The latest hopes were based upon two conciliatory moves made during 1968. The first was a statement released in May 1968 by Subarna Shamsher, leader of the Nepali Congress Party exiled in Calcutta, pledging the Party's support for King Mahendra's The second was a reciprocal gesture by the King-who is acutely conscious of the need for a consensus-in October 1968, in which he released Koirala and other Nepali Congress leaders from jail and pardoned hundreds of the Party's workers living as exiles in India. Despite the hopes raised by these preliminary moves, the progress toward reconciliation between the King and Koirala came to a grinding halt during the early months of 1969. After his release, Koirala was anxious to meet the King in order to define the terms of the inodus operandi, assuming that the King would be willing to grant some political latitude to his outlawed Party or extend the encouragement of political office to some of the Party leaders. On the other hand, the King moved cautiously and delayed meeting Koirala. In any case, it is doubtful that he intended to offer Koirala more than he had offered publicly, an opportunity to work within the Panchayat System. In early February, little more than three months after his release, Koirala became impatient with the King's refusal to engage him in direct dialogue, and issued his first strong public statement. The prevailing political, eco-