K P Oli is Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time. Regardless of the fact that we are just recycling the same old, tried, tested and failed leaders, Oli has now secured himself a position among Nepal's serial prime ministers.&nbsp; He has promised to vacate the chair for coalition partner Sher Bahadur Deuba, who will be PM for the sixth time in 18 months. Deuba has only one more tenure to go to prove his astrologer right. His consort Arzu Deuba was sworn in as foreign minister in the new cabinet this week. Surya Bahadur Thapa of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and Girija Prasad Koirala of NC were prime ministers five times each. Lokendra Bahadur Chand also of RPP has been PM four times, last appointed by the king Gyanendra at the peak of the Maoist conflict after he had dissolved Parliament.&nbsp; Oli first became prime minister in 2015, although he has been a powerful member of the UML ever since the 1990s. His second term was two and a half years later in 2018 after Nepal's first federal elections. The third time he was a minority PM and was in the office for two months before Deuba upstaged him in 2021. Now, the two leaders who backstabbed each other multiple times are partners in government again. There could be no better proof of the truth in the adage that there are no real enemies or friends in politics.&nbsp; Besides Arzu Deuba, the NC has also brought back Prakash Man Singh (son of democracy warrior Ganesh Man Singh) as deputy PM and Minister for Urban Development. Bishnu Paudel of the UML has returned as the Finance Minister for the third time with his work cut out to revive a stagnant economy. His appointment is also under a cloud because his son has been implicated in the Baluwatar land scam.&nbsp; Notably, there are only two women ministers in the cabinet. Besides Arzu Deuba, Bidya Bhattarai replaces Sumana Shrestha of RSP as the Minister of Education. There are no Dalit or Muslim ministers. In these archival images by photojournalist Bikas Rauniar, we trace the political journey of some of these prominent figures, and in their faces we see the passage of time. But we are also reminded that the more things change, the more they remain the same. We see Oli on a street demonstration with Madhav Kumar Nepal (now his nemesis) and other leaders in 1998 protesting inflation and state violence. Two years later, he is at a commemoration of the North Korean National Day in Kathmandu. We also catch a glimpse of Oli with a young Bidya Devi Bhandari, who later became the first female president.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071617070_5bb57b7aacd98ce990c51a6c2d255bad10c8398bb3dd12b318c6beec3afa2c3f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024071617070_5bb57b7aacd98ce990c51a6c2d255bad10c8398bb3dd12b318c6beec3afa2c3f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2073" height="1285" loading="lazy" alt="K P Oli and Bidya Bandari in 1995"> <figcaption>Home Minister K P Oli , Bidya Devi Bhandari, Mirza Dilshad Beg at Kathmandu airport to see off Haj pilgrims in 1995.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071617070_a2dbc57c66692d4b0712d16ebf8e62b004359b5b98768008b2e7d47ff6e84a5a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="2024071617070_a2dbc57c66692d4b0712d16ebf8e62b004359b5b98768008b2e7d47ff6e84a5a" data-rendition-name="original" width="2440" height="1204" loading="lazy" alt="K P Oli in UMP party meeting in 1996"> <figcaption>K P Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Bharat Mohan Adhikari and other UML leaders at a parliamentary party meeting at Singha Durbar in 1996.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20240716160756_e85cc21bf3cb305e6e46471f323136f72ebe961654cdf55884ec3b83a4927806.jpg" data-media-id="editor_2" data-image-id="20240716160756_e85cc21bf3cb305e6e46471f323136f72ebe961654cdf55884ec3b83a4927806" data-rendition-name="original" width="2357" height="1537" loading="lazy" alt="K O Oli in a protest with Madhav Nepal NT"> <figcaption>K P Oli, Madhav Kumar Nepal and others during a demonstration against the NC government outside Singha Darbar in 1998.</figcaption> </figure>  We also see Arzu Deuba as an activist attending a public hearing on the Arun III project in 1992, and another photo of her with her bespectacled husband, Sher Bahadur Deuba. A 1994 photo captures Prakash Man Singh with his father Ganesh Man Singh at a function.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071617070_2a7130b955b7c7b41214c528ca93d59cf8d6e6fa6df0301c2fb660384a63725a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024071617070_2a7130b955b7c7b41214c528ca93d59cf8d6e6fa6df0301c2fb660384a63725a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1332" height="669" loading="lazy" alt="Arzu Deuba at Arun III hearing"> <figcaption>Newly appointed Foreign Minister Arzu Rana Deuba (2nd from left) with Anil Chitrakar, water expert Ajaya Dixit, journalist Rajendra Dahal, hydropower expert Bikash Pandey, Rishi Shah. (Behind) Barbara Adams, Huta Ram Baidya and others during the first public hearing of the Arun III project at Kathmandu Hotel in 1992. Arzu Rana was then working for International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071617070_0c8b83e82cf7b3b121caf5000f1108a795ce5a8ec718701773a939a69f4a8137.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2024071617070_0c8b83e82cf7b3b121caf5000f1108a795ce5a8ec718701773a939a69f4a8137" data-rendition-name="original" width="1498" height="897" loading="lazy" alt="Arzu Deba during a heritage walk"> <figcaption>Arzu Rana walking with Karna Shakya and others in Thimi during a heritage observation walk in 1995.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071617074_cc3fbd1e66e8c4f1e9dd381f780f8797a074988acc6f0b56b3710e2057bfba9f.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="2024071617074_cc3fbd1e66e8c4f1e9dd381f780f8797a074988acc6f0b56b3710e2057bfba9f" data-rendition-name="original" width="2468" height="1437" loading="lazy" alt="Prakash Man Singh and Ganesh Man Singh in 1994"> <figcaption>Prakash Man Singh with his father Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna P Bhattarai, Yog P Upadhyaya during a Nepali Congress rally at Khula Manch in 1994.</figcaption> </figure>  &nbsp;

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Those were the days

Ask random pedestrians on Kathmandu’s sidewalks to name the current prime minister and prominent party leaders, and there is a high chance they will scratch their heads. It is probably worse in Kosi, where the provincial chief minister has changed five times in two years.&nbsp; It is a foregone conclusion that K P Oli will become Nepal’s Prime Minister for the fourth time on Friday after he dumped Dahal and his four-month-old coalition following a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepal-government-changes-again">clandestine midnight power-sharing deal</a> with Sher Bahadur of the Nepali Congress (NC).&nbsp; Oli promised to be in Baluwatar for the next one-and-half years, hand over to Deuba who will head the government for the sixth time till the next elections in 2027.&nbsp; That the NC and UML <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/rapid-fire-governments-in-nepal">double crossed Dahal</a>, whose Maoist Centre had taken advantage of being a ‘kingmaker’ party in Parliament to swap parties just to gain and remain in power. But Oli and Deuba seemed to think enough was enough, especially since Dahal was letting his Home Minister from the RSP to go after the top leaders in the NC and UML on corruption charges. The two leaders also said constitutional amendments on electoral laws are necessary to “ensure political stability”. This would mean scrapping proportional representation and makes it more difficult for smaller parties to gain seats in the House.&nbsp; These amendments will be easier said than done because even the NC and UML cannot muster the two-third majority required to revise the Constitution without support from the Maoists and the Unified Socialists in the National Assembly. Both are now seething against Oli or Deuba.&nbsp; On Friday, national attention will focus on who gets which ministry in the new government. Oli and Deuba cut a deal for the NC to have 10 ministries, and the UML getting 9. They already decided that the home ministry should go to NC and finance the UML. Deuba’s wife, Arzu, is said to be eyeing the Foreign Ministry. &nbsp; Like we wrote in this space last month, Nepal’s international diplomacy is just an <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/pre-paid-excellencies">extension of' power sharing that rewards party loyalists</a>. The decision of the UML-Maoist government in June to recall 11 ambassadors and propose eight new ambassadors under the UML, Maoist, and Unified Socialist quota now hangs in the balance.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024071103078_d9be5d7db93df78e14512854ed7e5a9d893dbeaebffe3b256fa6f484accdf763.jpg" data-media-id="editor_3" data-image-id="2024071103078_d9be5d7db93df78e14512854ed7e5a9d893dbeaebffe3b256fa6f484accdf763" data-rendition-name="original" width="1800" height="1350" loading="lazy" alt="Araniko Highway bikes NT"> <figcaption>Two-wheelers stuck in the mud in the Araniko Highway after heavy rainfall. Photo: RAJKUMAR PARAJULI</figcaption> </figure>  It is likely the Maoist and Unified Socialist ambassador nominees will be crossed out, and it will be interesting to see who gets critical missions to India, China, and the US.&nbsp; This was in essence a joint power grab to stop <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heads-roll">investigations into scandals</a> that both their top leaders are implicated in: the NC in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam, and the UML in a land grab of a state-owned tea estate in Jhapa. And most Nepalis seem to be aware that this is a marriage of convenience that will not make their lives better. Some experts have argued that a NC-UML alliance would be the best bet for relative political stability. Deuba and Oli, now have to prove that to be true.&nbsp; The NC has been demanding that RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane be investigated for his <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/nepals-home-minister-vs-the-media">alleged involvement in misappropriating funds from co-operatives</a> he was involved in. The two parties in power must now ensure that ongoing probes into corruption scandals are fully looked into and the perpetrators held accountable, whichever parties they may belong to. Given the premise that this coalition was the result of the NC and UML trying to prevent probes, there is little chance of that happening.&nbsp; The Maoists and the RSP must now be an effective opposition front. Given the tit-for-tat nature of Nepali politics, it is a no-brainer that the RSP will keep going after NC and UML leaders implicated in scandals.&nbsp; The RSP will also have to clean up its own image before the next election, but that will be hard when it is imitating the political culture of the same parties it vowed to be an alternative to.&nbsp; This week, the party stripped General Secretary Mukul Dhakal of all responsibilities after he leaked a scathing report accusing Lamichhane of putting himself above party &nbsp;interests.&nbsp; Nepal’s politics has been dominated by the whims of the same three ageing politicians and their parties since 2006. While they have been engaged in political theatre and trading barbs, 80 people have died across Nepal in floods and landslides since the beginning of monsoon.&nbsp; Vehicles mired in the mud on Nepal’s highways this week are a fitting metaphor of the nation’s politics. Shristi Karki

More things change, more they remain the same

In math, if only two out of three variables can be together, its permutation can have only three values. The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) have teamed up three times since 2017, the last time just four months ago. The Maoists and the Nepali Congress (NC) also got hitched three times.&nbsp; But this is the first time in seven years that the third combination of a NC-UML coalition is being tired out. It was Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoists who, despite being the leader of a much smaller party by a long margin, used his swing vote to take turns hitching up with Sher Bahadur Deuba (NC) and K P Oli (UML). Now, Deuba and Oli have jilted Dahal.&nbsp; Together, the NC and UML have a majority in Parliament to form a new government, but Prime Minister Dahal is refusing to go, saying he will only do so after facing a confidence vote within a month. It is foregone conclusion that Oli will be prime minister for the fourth time, and (if he keeps his promise) hand over to Deuba who will head the government for the sixth time till the next elections in 2027. “The Prime Minister seems to have been taken aback by how suddenly these developments happened,” says political analyst Hari Sharma. “But seeking a confidence vote is a more dignified way for him to go.” Constitutional amendments need a two-thirds majority in both Houses. While the NC and UML have the numbers in the Lower House through support from smaller parties, it will not be possible to obtain a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly without support from the Maoist Center. Sharma adds, “These two parties have come together as a matter of convenience, not principle. A constitutional amendment is only a political cover to justify the alliance.” The NC and the UML say they want to scrap provisions in the 2015 Constitution that gave excluded groups a presence in the legislature through Proportional Representation, saying it led to frequent coalition changes and instability. They have also hinted at doing away with federalism and secularism.&nbsp; “One of the most important parts of the Constitution are inclusivity and proportional representation,” says Sharma. “To see it as a problem that needs a constitutional amendment will be regressive. It would have been more credible if the NC-UML alliance had gone for political or governance reform.” Oli and Deuba tried to give an ideological veneer of the need for constitutional amendment to their secretive midnight pact, but some say it was in essence a joint power grab to offset imminent investigations into scandals that both their top leaders are implicated in: the NC in the fake refugee scam, and the UML in a land grab of a state-owned tea estate in Jhapa.&nbsp; For now, the main priority of the NC-UML is power sharing. The NC is wresting the all-important Home Ministry from the RSP’s Rabi Lamichhane which has been investigating the fake refugee and tea estate scams. Lamichhane himself is being investigated for misappropriating funds from co-operatives. The UML is to get nine ministries, including Finance. Oli had been unhappy with what he called a “Maoist budget” saying there had been no consultation with coalition partners. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was the inability of Dahal and Oli to agree on the lucrative appointment of the head of the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon).&nbsp; The two parties have also decided to divide up provincial governments with three each, except Madhes Province. There is a geopolitical dimension with China openly backing unity among Communist parties, while India and the West want to thwart a UML-Maoist government. On Wednesday, UML ministers resigned en masse, after the party had urged Prime Minister Dahal to clear the way for a new government. Lamichhane’s RSP has said that it will not be joining the new government, while the monarchist RPP and some smaller parties welcomed the NC-UML alliance.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2024070413078_88fb6f8707ee4b34ec8d67f66b1da002e09c990b6c45c030032279e11f92f53a.jpg" data-media-id="editor_0" data-image-id="2024070413078_88fb6f8707ee4b34ec8d67f66b1da002e09c990b6c45c030032279e11f92f53a" data-rendition-name="original" width="1582" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="UML ministers resign NT"> <figcaption>UML ministers resigned en masse on Wednesday after the party withdrew its support of the Pushpa Kamal Dahal government. Photo: PRADEEP RAJ ONTA</figcaption> </figure>  Some experts say an NC-UML alliance of the two biggest mainstream parties will make the government more stable and fulfil the mandate of Nepali voters. Indeed, despite being the first and second largest parties, the NC and UML have been playing mostly supporting roles in alliances with the much smaller Maoist-Centre.&nbsp; Consecutive governments led by Deuba, Oli and Dahal have failed to stimulate the economy, curb inflation, create jobs, or commit to transitional justice. Corruption became endemic during their tenures. Lately, Deuba and Oli were increasingly spooked by Lamichhane’s corruption probes. Bechan Jha, who was arrested last week for involvement in the fake refugee scandal, reportedly had connections right to the top echelons of the NC. And UML leaders were getting anxious about investigations into the tea estate scam. Nepal’s cyberphere is bristling with speculation that investigations to both scandals will now be sidelined. Kathmandu’s populist mayor Balen Shah added fuel to the fire with a telling social media post of Deuba and Oli holding teacups.&nbsp; <div class="embed-block"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">यो समय गिरिबन्धु चियाको हो । काले काले मिलेर खाऊ भाले । <a href="https://t.co/ayi73w61mI">pic.twitter.com/ayi73w61mI</a>&mdash; Balen Shah (@ShahBalen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahBalen/status/1807975048130842936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> Nepal’s mainstream leadership must be concerned about the rise of populist parties and the public outrage on social media about their greed and opportunism. They want to amend the Constitution so that smaller populist parties do not have a strong presence in Parliament through proportional representation. In the midst of all this, the RSP suspended General Secretary Mukul Dhakal for his scathing internal report critical of Lamichhane putting his political ambition above the interest of the party. The losers in the fast-paced political developments this week appear to be Dahal and the Maoists, Lamichhane and the RSP and Madhav Nepal of the Unified Socialists. However, in the public’s eye, all three mainstream parties are the same, and citizens do not have faith in the new NC-UML alliance improving their living conditions.

Shristi Karki

Rapid fire governments in Nepal

At the stroke of the midnight hour, and with the stroke of a pen, Nepal’s government has changed for the third time in a year.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoist Centre is out of a job after his coalition partner the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) joined hands with the Nepali Congress (NC) to form a new government.&nbsp;
The NC had previously ditched the UML to join up with the Maoists, and the UML had again defected to join the Maoist-led coalition earlier this year.
According to the deal that will be endorsed by both parties on Tuesday, K P Oli of the UML and Sher Bahadur Deuba of the NC will take turns being prime minister for 18 months each till the next election in 2027.
This will be 73-year-old Oli’s fourth time as prime minister, while Deuba, 78, who first became prime minister 30 years ago, will head the government for the sixth time.
Although Oli and Deuba say they want to form a national consensus government, it is not clear if Dahal will agree to bring his Maoist party into the new coalition. The NC is the largest party in Parliament, while the UML is second strongest, and the Maoists are a distant third.
Prime Minister Dahal will now have to prove his majority in Parliament within a month, but he could also resign after which President Ram Chandra Poudel will officially ask the biggest two parties to form a government.
Oli will then become prime minister for the fourth time, although the third time he was prime minister in 2021, he was in office for just one week when the Supreme Court overturned his decision to dissolve Parliament.
NC and UML leaders have said a new national government is necessary because of the need for a majority in the House to pass amendments to the constitutions to possibly dilute provisions for proportional representation in the legislature, which they say has led to instability and frequent changes in government.
However, the UML, NC and to a lesser extent the Maoists appear to be worried about the rise of populist parties and leaders in the last elections cashing in on the popular disillusionment among Nepalis with the three established parties who have ruled Nepal continuously for nearly two decades.
But the two leaders seem not to have realised that it is precisely this kind of political promiscuity that has led to frequent reshuffling of coalitions between the three main parties.
The NC and UML could also be acting to preempt possible investigations into scandals that their leaderships have been implicated in. Top NC leaders have been named in the fake refugee scandal, and the UML has been tainted by allegations of huge land grab of a former government-owned tea estate in Jhapa district.
By being in government, both parties could sideline investigations into scams that their top leaders are allegedly involved in. As per details of the Deuba-Oli nocturnal deal leaked to the press, the NC will get 10 ministries including the powerful Home Ministry and the UML will have nine including the finance portfolio.&nbsp;
The fate of the fourth party in Parliament, the RSP, and its controversial Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is also unclear at this stage. The RSP is in the present Dahal-led coalition and Lamichhane had bargained as a party with swing votes to insist on having the home minister’s post which he has used in the past year to deflect investigations into his citizenship and cooperatives scandals.
Dahal appears to have had wind of the Deuba-Oli rapprochement and had tried to convince the two leaders that they could join the coalition he led as prime minister. Till Monday, Dahal was trying to prevent a possible NC-UML alliance, giving speeches calling for a unity of left parties.
There could be a geopolitical angle to this, since the Chinese have openly said they favour Nepal’s Communist parties to unite. And because of this, India and the West have worked behind the scenes to prevent left-wing unity.
The UML-NC ‘coup’ would prevent the UML and the Maoists from being in the same government.
There is uncertainty about the abrupt recall of eight NC-appointed ambassadors last month by the UML-Maoist coalition. Now that the NC is back in power, will some of them be reinstated?
Another uncertainty surrounds the seven provincial governments which have risen and fallen in the past year, mostly in relation to which coalition is in power in Kathmandu. The NC-UML deal is also said to include a proportional distribution of provincial governments, even though that goes completely against the spirit of federalism and political devolution as enshrined in the Constitution.

Nepal government changes again

In yet another chapter of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/shadow-government-nepal,3838">Nepal’s promiscuous political love triangle</a> between the Nepali Congress (NC), Maoist Centre and UML, one leader has just dumped his partner to go off with his ex.
In the latest break-up -make-up political saga, the Maoists and the UML joined hands on Monday for the third time since 2017 to form a new left-led coalition.
The shotgun wedding between Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s Maoist Centre and UML Chair K P Oli means the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/deuba-5-qh371fm4">NC’s Sher Bahadur Deuba</a> is now in the opposition, together with Madhav Nepal's CPN-Unified Socialist.
Dahal and Oli have revived their power-sharing deal to rotate the premiership for two years each till the next elections in 2027.&nbsp;
Besides the UML, the new coalition also includes Rabi Lamichhane’s Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and Upendra Yadav’s Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP). CK Raut’s Janamat Party is also said to be in talks to join the government.&nbsp;
Although there had been simmering discontent between the NC and the Maoist for some weeks, few expected the breakup to happen so suddenly. The Maoists are a distant third largest party in Parliament, but were aggrieved by the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/coalition-collision-mzle2ns5">NC’s General Committee meeting last week</a> in which members called for the party to go it alone, and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/unconventional-convention">reminded the Maoists of their war atrocities</a>. Many NC delegates felt that as the largest party, it should not be letting the Maoists ride its coat-tails. But now the biggest party in Parliament is in the opposition.&nbsp;
Monday morning was marked by a flurry of meetings between Prime Minister Dahal and Oli, Lamichhane and Yadav.&nbsp;
Even as the new coalition swore in a small new Council of Ministers, Nepal’s public sphere gave a loud yawn on social media. The first phase of the new Cabinet will include three leaders each from the Maoists, UML, and RSP.
Most commentators ridiculed the three parties reshuffling the cards again to bring out the same persona, and that this change in government would not make any difference to the country’s economic and other crises.&nbsp;
UML Chief Whip and former Health Minister Padam Giri joined the Council of Ministers on Monday. The Maoist Centre sent former Youth and Sports Minister Hit Bahadur Tamang to the Cabinet. <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/conflicting-interests">RSP vice-chair Dol Prasad Aryal</a>, who was briefly Labour Minister under the previous alliance between the Maoists and the RSP, was also sworn in.&nbsp;
There is already a disagreement over the choice of Home Minister with both the UML and RSP laying claim. RSP’s Lamichhane insisted on the post he once held but <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-rise-and-fall-of-rabi-lamichhane">had to give up because of the controversy over his American citizenship</a>. The RSP is the fourth largest in Parliament.
Dahal was appointed Prime Minister in December 2022 after breaking the five-party coalition led by his predecessor Sher Bahadur Deuba’s NC and with support from K P Oli’s UML.&nbsp;
Two months later, the Prime Minister got back together with NC and formed a new coalition government after forming a power-sharing deal between himself, Deuba, and CPN-Unified Socialist chair Madhav Kumar Nepal to divide up the premiership three ways for five years.&nbsp;
The partnership between Dahal and Deuba had already been fragile, but the straw that broke the camel’s back this time appears to have been the NC’s General Committee meeting in February, during which leaders of the dissident faction called for the party to forego political alliances with other parties in 2027, which Deuba agreed to.
The Maoists were already angered after the NC allied with the UML to elect Kedar Karki the Chief Minister of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/kosi-now-kathmandu-next">Kosi Province</a> after Karki and other members of NC refused to back the Maoist candidate for the position.&nbsp;
This was compounded after the coalition’s Maoist candidate from Kosi Champa Karki lost the recent National Assembly election to the UML candidate. The party was also said to have been growing uneasy about the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/unconventional-convention">increasing anti-secular sentiment within the NC</a>.
Dahal is said to have cited circumstances surrounding the Kosi and National Assembly elections as well as the discourse surrounding the NC-Maoist electoral partnership during the NC gathering as reasons for the breakup of the coalition.&nbsp;
Dahal’s newest political move might also have been a tactic to detract from criticism of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/nepal-gets-gold-medal-for-corruption">his government’s underperformance as well as the numerous corruption scandals</a> that have marked his premiership in which the guilty have got away.&nbsp;
Various members of the Cabinet including Physical Infrastructure and Transport Minister Prakash Jwala of the Unified Socialist was implicated in the Balkumari riot, Health and Population Minister Mohan Basnet of the NC in the procurement of surveillance equipment Teramocs, as well as the Maoist Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Sudan Kirati in private contract agreement of Lumbini’s Ramgram.&nbsp;
Prime Minister Dahal told a program on Monday afternoon rather melodramatically: “The country will be in turmoil until the day I die … Maoists are not the kind to be content with continuity, rather, we thrive on disorganisation.”
As it stands, the new coalition will not only affect politics at home but also be consequential to Nepal’s relationships with giant neighbours India and China.&nbsp;
China has always wanted Nepal’s left parties to stick together, and the US-India bloc have opposed it. The just dissolved coalition of the Maoists-NC was said to be better suited to India’s interests.

What just happened in Nepali politics?

If the frequent collapse of the provincial coalition in Kosi is any indication, all is not well in the power dynamics in Nepal’s nine-party governing alliance.
This week, Kedar Karki of Nepali Congress (NC) became the fifth Chief Minister of Kosi Province since elections last November. Karki passed the floor test in the provincial assembly, but with help from the opposition UML. The UML had failed to get enough votes for its own chief minister candidate which precipitated the new election.
This was an embarrassment for Maoist prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal who had got the coalition at the centre to back fellow comrade Indra Bahadur Angbo. And it was also a blow to NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba.
A dissident faction of the NC not happy with party president Sher Bahadur Debut’s conjugal relationship with the Maoists, got UML backing to support Karki’s chief ministership. Eight NC members from Koirala’s camp and 39 from the UML, which has the majority seats in Kosi provincial assembly, supported Kedar Karki.&nbsp;
What followed was even more intriguing. Prime Minister Dahal and Deuba summoned Shekhar Koirala and tried to convince him to backtrack on Kosi. He refused. But they did manage to convince him not to mess with the coalition setup in return for allowing Karki to be Kosi Chief Minister.
And since Nepali leaders are not best known to keep their word, the three put their deal in writing on a crumpled piece of paper, torn from someone’s copy book, and signed it (pictured).
Kathmandu interfering in Kosi is not new. In fact, the former Kosi Chief Minister Hikmat Karki of the UML was actually backed by the Maoists, despite its alliance with the NC at the centre. Rescinding that support is what led to the current instability.&nbsp;
The background to this back-and-forth is the ethnic debate about whether the province should be called Kosi or Kirat. The matter is such a hot potato that Province 1 was the last of the seven to finally vote on a name (Kosi) last year.&nbsp;
The region’s indigenous groups want a name that reflects their identity, but the various ethnic groups are not united in what that name should be. Prime Minister Dahal made matters more complicated by saying that Kosi should be changed to Kirat.&nbsp;
All this is ammunition for those who want to scrap Nepal’s federalism, saying it is a waste of money, it decentralises corruption and multiplies by seven the disarray at the centre.
However, Nepal’s provinces have never been allowed true autonomy on revenue-raising and decision-making, they have been mere appendages of Kathmandu.
Within the NC, the Kosi debate has brought to the surface the strong feelings about the leadership of the largest party in Parliament shamelessly kowtowing to the third largest party. Leading this dissenting group are Shekhar Koirala and Gagan Thapa, although there is an undercurrent of rivalry to succeed Deuba between them.
So far, the coalition has withstood tensions brought on by controversial provisions in the budget, as well as a series of high profile corruption cases that shook up and implicated the top leadership of all major political parties.&nbsp;
It is clear that Nepal’s governing coalition, especially the alliance between the NC and the Maoists, has remained steadfast because of the sheer opportunism of the leaders in charge of both the parties. (And perhaps a bit of geopolitical goading from the South.)
The aftermath of Dahal’s successful attempt to regain premiership from Deuba last year was a power-sharing deal under which Dahal and Deuba gave each other two years each as PM. As per the deal, Unified Socialist chair Madhav Nepal also gets one year at premiership, which is perhaps why he has gone along with the whims of Dahal and Deuba.
All this horse-trading leaves little time for the coalition to govern. Development is at a standstill, inflation is at an all time high (page 4) and corruption has reached pandemic proportions.&nbsp;
The Dasain mood is subdued. Coalition partners will likely use the holiday to plot, and plot some more. They will face fresh challenges, the biggest being the question whether the alliance will hold together long enough, and if Deuba and Dahal will honour their deal to rotate the prime ministership.
Shristi Karki

Kosi now, Kathmandu next?

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd4dd9c7e80680e0d30c2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="667" height="1000"/><figcaption>Maoist chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and CPN (UML) chair K P Oli are back in a coalition government, ousting Sher Bahadur Deuba and his Nepali Congress. Photo: GOPEN RAI</figcaption></figure>On Sunday, Maoist Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/left-led-coalition-upturns-nepal-politics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">appointed Nepal’s Prime Minister</a> by President Bidya Devi Bhandari with support from the UML, effectively putting an end to the very coalition government formed to oust the UML's KP Oli from power in 2021.Dahal finally has his coveted third term as Prime Minister, having last held the position in 2016. With support from seven political parties, his left-led alliance has a 169-majority in the House, even as it is <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-past-is-foretold-in-nepal-poll-results/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">only the third-largest in Parliament</a> with 32 elected members.Until Saturday, a day before the President’s deadline to form a majority government ended, Dahal had maintained his commitment to the NC-led coalition. But the Maoist supremo did a dramatic U-turn when he and NC chair and prime minister <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/deuba-5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sher Bahadur Deuba</a> failed to reach an agreement over which one of them would become PM first under the new government.Insiders said Dahal said he was going off to lunch and would return to continue the negotiations, but instead Deuba and other NC members heard he had gone to K P Oli's residence in Balkot to get his support.Dahal’s desire to become prime minister seems to have overruled everything else -- ideology, principles, and the 'liberation' of the people for which he waged a ruinous 10-year insurgency. As soon as Oli offered him the first stab at prime ministership on the condition of breaking away from the former alliance, all bets were off.“The best interests of the party and party leaders have become secondary to the Chairman’s personal interests,” says a Maoist official. “Breaking the alliance just so he could get to be Prime Minister was a shameful political act.”Had Dahal been a bit more patient, not only would he have been prime minister anyway in two years, his party's nominees would also have bagged the posts of President and House Speaker, not to mention plum ministerial positions over the next five years. Now, it will be Oli who will be pulling the strings on appointments even if Dahal is prime minister.A continued alliance with the NC would have benefited of many more of the Maoist rank and file. With this deal, only Dahal benefits. As of Monday morning, a Maoist Centre meeting has decided to appoint party vice-chair Narayan Kaji Shrestha deputy prime minister.While Dahal has bagged premiership at the expense of his own party, Oli — whose UML is the second-largest in Parliament after the November election — has shrewdly  gained the upperhand once again, playing the long game by agreeing to give Dahal the first go at leading the government while bagging plum political positions for his party in the process.Indeed, Dahal may be in the the prime minister's seat, but Oli is the one calling the shots.And with a left-led alliance now in power, Sher Bahadur Deuba have been out-maneuvered even though he has been considered to be a clever deal-maker, as evidenced by the five times he has been prime minister from the days of the monarchy in 1997.Just like Dahal, Deuba’s quest to lead the government for the sixth time left him unable to make an objective assessment of his and his party’s political future. Now, the NC which won only 23 FPTP seats in the election, finds itself in the opposition despite being the largest party in the House.The big loser in all this has been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/making-up-is-hard-to-do/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Madhav Kumar Nepal</a> who split from the UML to back the Deuba-led coalition last year, and was angling for a senior appointments for his CPN (Unified Socialist). Dahal and Oli largely ignored Nepal as being a bit player, his clout diminished further by his party's power performance in elections.Nepal subsequently grew closer with Dahal, breaking from the UML to eventually launch his own political party. Now, his party after a poor show in the local as well as national polls finds itself without national recognition in Parliament or the backing of a multi-party alliance.Had Nepal not put his entire weight behind Dahal and focused on an election strategy and party expansion, perhaps CPN-US would not have missed the chance to become a national party.A secretariat meeting conducted after Dahal’s abrupt exit from the coalition meeting in Baluwatar and subsequent foray to Oli’s residence in Balkot on Sunday was unable to dispel the uncertainty regarding the future of the CPN-US.“After a serious discussion regarding recent political developments, we have decided to move forward in the best interests of the country, our people, and the party,” read its vague statement.The UML-Maoist alliance has also blindsided senior NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel, who had been banking on continuing the coalition with Dahal as Prime Minister so that he could become President, making his own backroom deals with Maoist and CPN-US leaders since before the election.In the aftermath of the election, as the top political leaders negotiated to form a government in the absence of a clear majority in parliament, there had been much discourse about how a more stable government could be formed through an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/back-to-the-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NC-UML alliance</a>. After all, such an alliance had been possible in 2013.The Maoists make up only 11% of the 275-member Parliament, so the appointment of Dahal as PM is contrary to the people’s mandate. It has brought into question why elections should even be held when the results have no bearing on who leads the government.But this is not the first time something of this nature has happened in Nepali politics. RPP leaders Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Surya Bahadur Thapa were both elevated to prime minister in 1997 by the UML and NC respectively after the parties that fought to restore multiparty democracy polarised Nepal's politics.as In the next 30 days, Dahal will have to obtain a vote of confidence from the House per Article 76(4) of Nepal’s constitution. So, there could still be some surprises. He will need support from all seven parties that were behind his bid to become prime minister, which means more murky wheeling and dealing.Dahal, whose idea of democracy was <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/pushpa-kamal-dahal-is-still-prachanda/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rooted in the armed struggle</a>, does not have the best record with human rights, freedom of speech, and Nepal’s larger political process.But now, as prime minister, he needs to see beyond his personal ambition and keep the lines of communication between Baluwatar, Budhanilkantha and Balkot open. This will be in the best interest of Nepal’s democracy, federalism, and republicanism.

Oli-Dahal political déjà vu

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114121112/637223079c7e80680e0c032djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1364" height="860"/><figcaption>Photo: AMIT MACHAMASI/NEPALI TIMES ARCHIVE</figcaption></figure>On his first anniversary in office this month, Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/deuba-5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">five-time prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba</a> and his coalition governments get a mixed report card.Deuba came to power by riding on an internal feud within the leadership of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepalis-outraged-by-pm-oli-move/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">powerful Nepal Communist Party</a> (NCP) that ruled the country after the UML and Maoists together won the 2017 polls. As the NCP disintegrated, so did the UML, and Deuba replaced K P Oli in July 2021.It has been a chequered year for Deuba. On the plus side, more than 90% of Nepal’s eligible population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the American-aided MCC project <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mcc-gets-green-light-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">got ratified by Parliament</a> after a bruising political battle, local elections were held.However, just as Nepal was emerging from the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/the-real-cost-of-nepals-second-wave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Covid-19 pandemic</a>, it plunged headlong into an economic crisis spawned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/ukraine-crisis-hits-nepal-economy-hard/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">economy is in bad shape</a>.The 5-party coalition in its first cabinet meeting had given itself ten targets that included post-Covid economic prosperity, strengthening the federal democratic system, disaster management and equitable access to public services.But perhaps the biggest achievement of the Deuba administration has been the relatively successful conduct of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-goes-to-the-polls/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">local polls in May</a> which was held in 752 local constituencies with 35,045 representatives elected. Holding elections in time should not be regarded as an ‘achievement’, but we have to remember that Deuba had to convince both coalition partners Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the Maoists and Madhav Nepal of the CPN-Unified Socialists who were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/dance-of-democracy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reluctant about polls</a> because they thought their parties would lose.Deuba even managed to convince Netra Bikram Chand, erstwhile separatist C K Raut, and Resham Chaudhari who had been expelled from Parliament on allegations of involvement in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/tikapurs-protracted-trauma/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kailali massacre</a> of 2015, not to disrupt the voting.But Deuba’s second singular achievement was to steer the $500 million MCC infrastructure grant through House ratification despite the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/high-tension-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">political polarisation</a> that it had created. The MCC was stuck in Parliament repeatedly when the NCP with its near two-thirds majority was in power, but Deuba’s deserves credit for deftly manoeuvring the bill through the House.The MCC was not just important because of the size of the grant, but because the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/the-cost-of-no-mcc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">future of Nepal’s hydropower development</a>, distribution and possibility of future export of surplus electricity to India depends on it.The previous Oli government had been accused of corruption in the import of Covid test equipment, vaccines, security printing press, and real estate scams. The Deuba coalition has not been able to escape allegations of corruption in high places either.As soon as his coalition took over from the Oli government, Deuba sent both Houses into recess and called a Cabinet meeting the very next day to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/political-expediency-trumps-nepal-constitution/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pass an ordinance allowing parties to split</a> with just 20% of the membership.This was targeted directly at the UML, allowing its rump Unified Socialists to split off. This was a blatant misuse of power for partisan benefit, especially since it was Deuba himself who was responsible for a law requiring 40% membership of a parliamentary party for a break-up — a requirement especially designed in 2017 to prevent political instability,All this was the height of hypocrisy for a coalition that had attacked the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-pm-oli-goes-it-alone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">K P Oli government for violating the rule of law</a>. Deuba ended up out-doing Oli in bending rules for power and partisan gain.Since then, scandals have been coming on thick and fast involving ministers in the Deuba government. Finance Minister Janardan Sharma first got burnt in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/state-sponsored-economic-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">sacking Nepal Rastra Bank governor Adhikari</a>, then for allowing outside consultants to help him pass tax laws in the new budget that benefited only certain business houses.Sharma then got embroiled in allegations that he had allowed special interest groups illegal access to the budget design process. And then there was the tape of Minister of Culture, Tourism and Aviation Prem Ale abusing and manhandling the head of Nepal Airlines, allegedly over refusing to give jobs to the minister’s cronies. Instead of reprimanding the minister, Deuba’s ministerial council sacked the airline chief.There was also blatant interference in the promotion of the new police chief, which sent the message that the security services had been politicised. But this was not new for <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/reinstate-remove-repeat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deuba</a>, who as Home Minister 30 years ago, had interfered similarly in police promotions.Despite all this, by the sordid record of past governments in Nepal, this coalition government is relatively clean. With <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepals-local-polls-a-rehearsal-for-federal-elections/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">federal and provincial elections looming</a> on the horizon, the Nepali Congress still has a chance to distance itself from its tainted partners and aim for a fresh mandate in November.Santa Gaha Magar

Deuba's mixed report card

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372182a9c7e80680e0baa2ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1350"/><figcaption>Indian Prime Moinister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba visit Lumbini to mark Buddha Jayanti on 16 May. All photos: RSS</figcaption></figure>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepali counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba met in Lumbini on Monday on the occasion of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/telling-the-story-of-buddhas-lumbini/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Buddha Jayanti</a>, offering prayers and holding a bilateral meeting.Modi flew in by helicopter after landing at India’s Kushinagar, and bypassing the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/bhairawas-new-airport-already-too-small/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gautam Buddha International Airport</a> that was also inaugurated today. The airport is Nepal’s second international gateway and is expected to boost pilgrimage and tourism traffic in the region.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111124/6372182d9c7e80680e0baa2bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1200"><figcaption>Prime Minister Deuba inagurates Nepal' second international airport in Bhairawa also on Buddha Jayanti.</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218309c7e80680e0baa2cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1200"><figcaption>Also known as Gautam Buddha International Airport, it is expected to boost pilgrimage and tourism in the region.</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218349c7e80680e0baa2djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1280"><figcaption>Mayadevi Temple decorated on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti.</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218389c7e80680e0baa2ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1280"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372183c9c7e80680e0baa2fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="1200"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372183f9c7e80680e0baa30jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1800" height="822"><figcaption>Jazeera Airways flight from Kuwait City which arrived on 16 May will operate regularly to Bhairawa.</figcaption></figure><a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/buddhas-birthday-in-his-birthplace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Lumbini was where the Buddha was born</a> 2,566 years ago, and Kushinagar is where he attained parinirvana. India also inaugurated an airport in Kushinagar, and the two countries are working together on a ‘Buddhist Circuit’ that also includes Bodh Gaya and Sarnath.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218429c7e80680e0baa31jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1198" height="818">Modi laid the foundation stone for the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage and jointly inaugurated a 4,000 capacity meditation hall in Lumbini. Earlier, they lit lamps at the Ashoka Pillar, put up by the Mauryan emperor in 249BCE to mark <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/u-thant-kenzo-tange-and-the-buddhas-birthplace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the nativity site</a>, and paid a visit to the Mayadevi Temple.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218459c7e80680e0baa32jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1188" height="857"><figcaption>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Mayadevi Temple to pay his respects. He also visited Indian community in Lumbini (pictured below, left).</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/637218489c7e80680e0baa33jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="545" height="401"><figcaption>Photo: DDNEWS</figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372184a9c7e80680e0baa34jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1260" height="840"><figcaption></figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114111128/6372184d9c7e80680e0baa35jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3600" height="2700"><figcaption>Narendra Modi with Sher Bahadur Deuba lays foundation stone or the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage,</figcaption></figure>The day-long visit to Lumbini is Modi’s fifth trip to Nepal since he became prime minister in 2014. Bilateral relations soured after India imposed a <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/autopsy-of-a-blockade%20,2863" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">6-month blockade</a> on Nepal and after it put 350 sqk km of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/lines-on-a-map/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepal’s territory in Limpiyadhura</a> in the country’s northwestern tip on its official maps.Modi tweeted in Nepali after arriving in Lumbini. He later posted: 'Happy to be among the wonderful people of Nepal on the special occasion of Buddha Purnima. Looking forward to the programmes in Lumbini.”'After bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers, Nepal and India also signed an agreement that included developing the 695MW Arun IV hydroelectric project in eastern Nepal at a cost of Rs80 billion. India's Sutlej Jala Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) which is also building the Arun-III will jointly develop the bigger project in partnership with Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).Under the agreement, Nepal will get 152MW for free and the rest will be fed into the Indian grid.However, a much-expected agreement on opening up new two-way air routes from India and Nepal to facilitate new airports in Pokhara and Bhairawa did not materialise.

Deuba and Modi meet in Lumbini

<figure><img width="1200" height="797" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f4c9c7e80680e0b7968jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Indian Prime Minister Narandra Modi reveicing Nepali PM Sher Bahadur Deuba during his Delhi visit in 2017. Photo: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, INDIA</figcaption></figure>Sher Bahadur Deuba became Nepal’s prime minister for the first time when he was just 49. A few months later, on 4 Februrary 1996, he ignored a Maoist ultimatum and flew off to India on a state visit.The Maoists did not even wait for an answer on their <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/revisiting-maoist-demands,2860" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">40 demands</a>, and by the time Deuba returned home, Nepal was already embroiled in a war <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/from-the-frontlines-of-nepals-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">that was to last another 10 years</a>.In New Delhi, Deuba signed the Mahakali Treaty on the border river that became such a political hot potato that his Nepali Congress (NC) government fell within a year. Deuba has gone on to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/deuba-5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">become prime minister four more times</a> since then -- through the war, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-would-still-be-a-monarchy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">royal massacre</a>, the royal military coup, and the peace process.Now, at age 75, he is embarking on yet another ritual visit to New Delhi.In the 36 years since his first trip as prime minister, Deuba has been greeted in New Delhi by four Indian prime ministers: P V Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi. Visits to the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/new-delhis-new-dealings-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Delhi Darbar</a> have become mandatory rites of passage for every Nepali prime minister.No one expects any substantial outcome from this trip, coming as it does during an <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/local-government-by-the-people-for-the-people-of-the-people/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">election year in Nepal</a> in which the NC is in a coalition with its former arch enemy, the Maoists.But the timing of the visit does carry geopolitical significance — it is happening two months after Nepal <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/mcc-gets-green-light-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ratified the US-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation</a> (MCC) project, and barely a week after a <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/fixing-the-broken-parts-in-nepal-china-ties/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">visit by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi</a> to Kathmandu. <img width="219" height="265" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221114101148/63720f4f9c7e80680e0b7969jpeg.jpg" alt="">Deuba’s NC strongly backed the MCC, which the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/china-lobbying-against-mcc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Chinese lobbied quite openly</a> with Nepal’s Communists to try to block. New Delhi stayed out of this row that had polarised Nepal’s politics for years, but it was wary of Chinese inroads into Nepal if the MCC did not go through.Deuba’s main goal in New Delhi this time will be to restore Nepal-India relations to a more even keel. The high point in bilateral ties was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/narendra-modi-nepal-india-ties,1792" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal</a> soon after his election in 2014, during which he addressed Parliament in Nepali, and was warmly welcomed.But the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/editorial/autopsy-of-a-blockade%20,2863" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">five-month Indian Blockade in 2015</a> undid the bonhomie, and rival <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/there-is-precedent-to-settling-kalapani/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">territorial claims over Kalapani and Limpiyadhura</a> in 2020 kept relations strained. Jingoistic talking heads on Indian tv channels throughout this period did not help matters.With India’s traditional micro-management of Kathmandu politics replaced by more overt Chinese meddling in the past five years, Nepal-India bilateral relations have calmed down a bit.But there are still recurring irritants: lack of agreement on two-way air routes, conditions on export of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-precious-electricity-going-waste/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surplus hydropower</a>, border embankments that flood the Tarai.Despite this, there is more that binds Nepal and India than divides. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/gorkhas-on-the-frontline-between-india-and-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Nepali citizens are enlisted in the Indian Army</a>, there are an estimated 3 million Nepali workers in India, and Nepal is the seventh largest source of remittances for India's own migrant workers.Deuba leads a 48-member delegation to New Delhi on Friday, and will make a quick side pilgrimage to Banaras. Just as Wang Yi handed over <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/cleared-to-land/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pokhara Airport</a> to Nepal earlier this week, Modi and Deuba will virtually inaugurate the mothballed 35km Kurtha-Jayanagar border railway. The visit is therefore expected to be largely ceremonial.Deuba has been getting sympathetic coverage in the Indian press, supposedly for standing up to China. Commentators there want Modi and Deuba to get over ‘temporary setbacks’ and ‘reboot’ <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/india-nepal-ties-must-move-beyond-1950-treaty/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">bilateral ties</a>.Some Indian experts have urged Deuba to carry on where he left off in 1996 to ‘pick the low-hanging fruit’ of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/reservoirs-of-suspicion/hydropower-geopolitics%20,3991" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Mahakali Treaty</a>. India has long proposed a grandiose scheme to build a cascade of dams on the border river for inter-basin transfer of water to the Yamuna, and on to Gujarat, in exchange for electricity for Nepal. Deuba will try to avoid this sensitive topic since his party faces <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/feudalism-to-federalism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">three levels of elections</a> this year.Four decades later, Prime Minister Deuba will come a full circle on this trip to India. His Nepali Congress was in power for most of <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/editorial/13-february/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the Maoist insurgency</a> from 1996-2006. Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal (on whose head Deuba had placed a dead-or-alive ransom) spent most of those war years in a safe house in New Delhi, and is now principal partner in his governing coalition.

Kunda Dixit

Deuba to restore India ties in Delhi visit

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

Being Prabal Gurung by design

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

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