Nepal's Gandhian warrior passes away

KATHMANDU: One of Nepal’smost-loved political icons who was launched on his path by the teachings ofMahatma Gandhi but later took up arms to lead a guerrilla army againstNepal’s dictator prime ministers in 1950 passed away near Friday midnightat the age of 87.Krishna Prasad Battarai, called Kishunji by Nepal with love and reverence, died of multiple heart failure at the Norvic Hospital in Thapathali mourned by thousands of people. It was a tribute to his integrity and popularity that mourners flocked to his home in Badegaon, where his body had been kept for people to pay their last respects, even though he had left Nepali Congress, the party he had founded with other leaders, four years ago and exercised no more political power.His own party leaders, the Maoistsand even deposed king Gyanendra Shah expressed grief at his passing away,acknowledging that Nepal had lost a saint.Born to an exiled familyin Brahmaghat in Banaras, Kishunji joined the Quit India movement in 1942 withhis elder brother Gopal Prasad. While Gopal Prasad was jailed for nearly threeyears, the younger Kishunji was kept in police detention in Banaras. Undeterredby the surveillance, he became an active student leader in Banaras HinduUniversity and when riots broke out in India during the freedom movement, he wasamong the volunteers seeking to restore peace.Inspired by the Indianindependence movement, the Nepali Congress planned an armed uprising against theautocratic Rana regime in Nepal and in a movement foreshadowing the Maoistmovement that started from1996, began an armed uprising. According toveteran Nepali Congress member Purushottam Basnet, in 1950, Kishunji lead the“People’s Freedom Army” in Janakpur and Udaypur in southernNepal, capturing the administrative offices and declaring a“people’s government” that held on till the Ranas wereoverthrown.The end of the Ranas however saw the Shah kings swoopdown on democracy and KIshunji was jailed for almost 14 years. In 1990, when thesecond pro-democracy movement forced the then king BIrendra to surrender power,KIshunji led the interim government that held the first democratic elections andinstalled a liberal constitution.He became PM once again in 1999after his party won the general election. However, his government was pulleddown by his own party peer Girija Prasad Koirala and in 2003, a disillusionedKrishna Prasad Bhattarai said farewell to politics. In 2007, when the NepaliCongress said it no longer supported constitutional monarchy and would espouse arepublic, Bhattarai left the party to express his disapproval.Twomonths before his death, his memoirs, Mero ma, Myself, wasreleased.The Nepali Congress Saturday said it would observe mourningfor 13 days, as per Hindu tradition, and take his last remains to all the 75districts of Nepal.