Jail Journal
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Jail Diary of BP Koirala

Explanatory notes in parenthesis are given to help readers locate the characters in BP Koirala's personal and political life - Editor.
  • February 14, 1967:

    Interview Day: Mother, TP (Tarini Prasad Koirala, brother of BP Koirala) and Rosa (Rosa Koirala, wife of TP Koirala) came. I am very happy to see mother after such a long time. TP also looked better since the last interview. Govind (Govind Koirala), Drigh Raj (Drigh Raj Koirala), Govind's sons, Shilu and others had also come. I exchanged greetings with all of them through the wicket of the gate. GM's wife gave me two types of pipe tobacco and a box of cigar. Marshall Zulum Shakya and Dhrub Ram were also there. On the whole I am pleased today. Sherchand's wife is however very ill. He is naturally very sad and gloomy. She appears to be affected by the lonely separation from her husband. A tragedy which Nepal's dictatorship brings to individuals who are not prepared to bow down to the dictator. I have grown a liking for Sherchand (Yogendra Man Sherchand) and through him his wife who appears to be a very good girl. In the evening we took our food together. A kind of feast. GM's wife had brought some chen-chev in a net case. On interview days I become causelessly tense with excitement.

  • March 14, 1967:

    The recent elections in India have brought about a tremendous change in the political picture of that country. The congress has lost power in eight states and in the centre it has been returned with sharply altered strength. The elections have produced surprising results also. What is of important consideration is the question whether the results have produced (l) more or less political stability and (2) strengthened the process of democracy. My first reaction is one of despair. The two questions - stability and democracy - have to go together, and if the former is weakened - the reverse may not be true, that is, weakening of democracy may not necessarily lead to instability, rather may lead to dictatorship. In any case, the change that the general elections have brought in India poses many questions and raises many doubts. The defeat of the Congress was necessary, but in the absence of alternative parties coming up to take its place, the weakening of the Congress is a dangerous development. Coalition politics would not prove successful in under-developed countries - more over coalition can be effected only among such parties that have common approach to fundamental questions. There cannot be a coalition between the Communist Party and the Swatantrata Party or the Jan Sangh which have achieved some tangible success in the elections.

  • March 15, 1967:

    Mother, TP and Rosa came to see me. Mother looked cheerful which gladdens me. She has become thin, but looks healthy. Her energy and spirit at this age are stimulating, and I return encouraged after every time I see her. Madalsa had also come. I saw her through the wicket gate and exchanged a few words of greetings with her. It excited me to see her after such a long time. She has become rounded, soft like a typical Bhaktin. Radhaswami faith has done her good. Mother told me that she has gone a long way among the fellow devotees in the path of self-realization; when TP said that she was being considered for the exalted office of a guru of the sect, mother said that she was still below for that office. Mother showed me a photo of the present Guru, a lady, who looked in the photo charming and attractive.

  • May 16, 1967:

    Interview Day: Sushila (Sushila Koirala, wife of BP Koirala), Shriharsha (Shriharsha Koirala, second son of BP Koirala), Manu (Shashank Koirala, youngest son of BP Koirala) and Baini (Bunu Koirala, sister of BP Koirala) came. I was happy more so because I was surprised, they came without prior intimation. In anticipation, you begin enjoying an event even before it happens; and the event, when it comes, it loses some of its impacts of happiness. The impact of happiness of an event which is not anticipated is all the greater on account of the element of surprise. I was so happy that I could not talk coherently with them. As a matter of fact, when they had gone I felt I had not talked with the children at all. Most of the time I was taken up in inconsequential talks with Sushila - Manu is a sensitive boy. He must have felt it. He remained quiet all the time. I am told he is doing well in his class. I exchanged a few words with Shriharsha.

    He looked grown up. Baini's health is also good. She looked charming. She was however shy with me. She is a very bad student but I was warned by Sushila that I should not refer to her failure in the examination because she would become unhappy. Prakash could not come because his examination is not yet over. I found Sushila too in fairly good health. She was cheerful too. I asked her if she was depressed. She said, 'No.' I asked about some political friends, she said that they were not frustrated. This is good news. What impressed me most was Sushila's confidence and cheerfulness. Her hair has become almost wholly grey and she definitely looks aged and weaker - bitten - but she was cheerful and confident.

    TP said that Ramesh's (Ramesh Nath Pandey) movements were fishy. Sushila said that he had become self-important, that is all. He has had some recognition lately which has gone into his head. TP seems to think that the change in his behavior denotes something more sinister. TP said that Rudra Giri (Rudra Prasad Giri) has welcomed the recent arrest; it was a good and proper step - he said - on the part of the Government to arrest these undesirable elements. I am amazed at his volte face and brazen sycophancy. GM said that he wanted to earn place in the ministry by flattery.

  • June 6, 1967:

    Regular war has started between the Arabs and the Israelites. My sympathies are with Israel, although I admit that the Arabs are not without a case of their own. My sympathy for Israel is both emotional and rational - emotional because the Jews have been a persecuted people whose suffering reached an unimaginable depth in the East Germany and Poland during the last war; rational, because once Israel has come into being as a result of the UN decision she has a right to exit, which right is denied by Arabs. Most of the problems associated with Israel versus Arabs would vanish once Israel's right to exist is accepted by the Arabs. The Arabs at present are subject to the leadership which is eithers out and out feudal or demagogue dictators or military oligarchy. Arabs are essentially emotional people, easily excitable who are being exploited by their leaders to maintain themselves in power. It is therefore in their interest to keep alive the tension with Israel.