| Username |
Post |
| Paschim |
Posted
on 28-Mar-02 11:08 PM
In response to some email queries about that connection between Tulsi Giri, his daughter, Dartmouth, and the Jordanian King, which Bhurtel mentioned to Bairagi in the 10th episode of the Gaunthali-Bhurtel saga, here's the full account of the fascinating story. Since the thread on PFD is getting too long, thought I'd create a new thread.
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Tulsi Giri and His Daughter's Wedding
By Paschim.
Tulsi Giri was one of BP Koirala's most favorite young leaders in the Nepali Congress, circa 1959, who he hoped to groom personally for future leadership. At the Foreign Affairs ministry that PM Koirala himself headed, Dr. Giri was made his assistant as the State Minister in the 1960 Cabinet. After 17 months, King Mahendra, in a blood-less royal coup, got rid of the democratic system, and locked up virtually all elected leaders. Many Congress cadres defected to the Panchayat within the next three years as Mahendra's grip on power became unassailable, but the most prominent Congress leaders remained in prison, with the exception of Subarna Shumsher, who, self-exiled in Calcutta, launched a failed armed struggle in 2018 BS, but returned to Nepal in 2024 BS to "bhakti-purbak sahayog takryauna" to the king. As an aside, I personally think this is the most memorable phrase in Nepali politics ever coined. The Military Detention Camp in Sundarijal held 6 illustrious prisoners - BP Koirala, Ganeshman Singh, Diwan Singh Rai, Yogendraman Sherchan, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, and Ram Narayan Mishra. BP and Ganeshman were the last to be released after 8 years, who then went on self-imposed exile to India. Krishna Prasad was moved to Nakkhu Jail for another 3 years for refusing to sign a note of acquiescence. Ram Narayan died a natural death, while Diwan Singh Rai, Yogendraman Sherchan and Saroj Koirala were subsequently murdered by the Panchayat.
While all this tragedy was unfolding in the dissenting camp, the two most famous defectors from BP's Congress Party - Biswo Bandhu Thapa and Tulsi Giri - who Mahendra had attracted prior to the coup on Poush 1, 2017, were busy establishing themselves in the Panchayat. Giri went on to become the Prime Minister at different occasions, and was a solid intellectual pillar in the system's early days. Suddenly in the late seventies under King Birendra, reportedly disgusted with the Panchayat that he himself helped nurture, Dr. Giri left Nepal permanently for Sri Lanka with his wife, Ms. Sara Yonzan. It is said that Giri not only went on to regret painfully his betrayal of the Congress, and most notably BP Koirala, in 2017 BS, but also his subsequent failure to make the Panchayat work. Going on exile was his way of repenting his career in politics which he strongly believed he had squandered despite earlier promise. After leaving Nepal, he has not only not interfered in politics, but has also rarely spoken to outsiders.
Despite being one of Nepal's smartest politicians ever, Giri had a personal weakness. It is said that he was excessively fond of women, and even other men's wives. "More so than healthily prescribed", as a source put to this author. Through one of his wives, Giri had fathered a stunningly beautiful daughter, a Nepali national, who by 1999 had become one of the most eligible women in the Island of Singapore where she worked as a fashion designer. She dated there an American gentleman, George Faux.
Almost around the same time, circa 1979, Tulsi Giri was preparing to become a recluse and vanish into the Island of Ceylon, two boys made a pact at Deerfield Academy, Massachusetts. No matter who they became eventually and wherever they were located in the world, the two boys told each other that they would return to New England to not only get married, but also become each other's Best Man in the true Christian tradition. Of the two friends, one was an American citizen, George Faux, who went on to date and later propose for marriage the Nepali Ms. Giri in Singapore, and the other had just become the Muslim monarch in the Hasemite Kingdom of Jordan following the death of his famous father, King Hussein.
In the fall of 1999, the wedding was arranged at Dartmouth for the American Mr. Faux who had graduated from the odd, but fiercely independent, Ivy college in 1984. The King of Jordan was to be his Best Man, as promised when a boy. The American guests were all expected to turn up at this famous wedding involving a king who turned up with an entourage of 50 people. But who would be arriving from the girls' side? There was a dozen or two Nepali relatives of the bride who applied for visa at the US Embassy in Kathmandu, who for not demonstrating compelling reasons for return to the Kingdom were swiftly denied permission to enter the US en-masse. It is said that the US State Department in Washington, DC, had to be pressured later by the Jordanian Royal Palace itself to look into the matter and issue visas to all Nepalis who had applied to attend the wedding at Dartmouth. The Kingdom of Jordan, as is well-known, is a crucial US ally in the Middle East, and only one of two Arab nations to have normal ties with the State of Israel. US, as the vocal patron of the Jewish state, thus is known to go to any length to appease Jordan and Egypt.
In the fall of 1999, in a hurried stopover, King Abdullah dropped by Harvard University to deliver a most articulate speech on the Middle East Peace Process, and answer some strongly worded questions at the Kennedy School of Government. Without staying overnight, he then rushed north to New Hampshire to attend a wedding in which he had promised, almost 20 years ago, to be the Best Man, "whatever he became, wherever he was". A Nepali contingent was in full force to witness this unusual, but most notable wedding at the cold, obscure little New Hampshire town called Hanover. The King, whose country only a handful of Nepalis have ever visited, but know all too well through the memorable Radio Nepal news broadcasts mentioning "Jordan ka Raja Hussein...", merrily blessed his high-school buddy, George, and his winsome Nepali wife.
Dr. Tulsi Giri, the father of the bride, did not attend the wedding. The Giris were said to have been busy relocating to Pune, Maharashtra, from Colombo.
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[Please note that some inconsequential details have not yet been verified by the author.]
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| Parakhi |
Posted
on 28-Mar-02 11:45 PM
Paschimji
As a GBNC/Sajha website visitor in the last 14 months, this is the one which I read and went on reading without changing my sitting position until I read two times. A big applause for your great story telling.
Bhagawanle tapainlai bahutai sundar ra mankari shrimati milaideun....
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| Mitra |
Posted
on 29-Mar-02 04:02 PM
"....It is said that Giri not only went on to regret painfully his betrayal of the Congress, and most notably BP Koirala, in 2017 BS, but also his subsequent failure to make the Panchayat work. Going on exile was his way of repenting his career in politics which he strongly believed he had squandered despite earlier promise. After leaving Nepal, he has not only not interfered in politics, but has also rarely spoken to outsiders.... "
I heard a different story as why Giri left Nepal, and I may be wrong here but I want to see if you guys know more than what I heard.
I heard that Tulsi Giri was referred as mother of the Panchayat who founded it with king Mahendra. When Panchayat won the 2036 BS election for single party rule, Giri was against 'balig matadhikar' people's active participation to vote for their candidate/leader. He said that single party and 'balig matadhikar' would not go along for long. He said people vote only in democracy, not where there is single party rule. This is where he had disagreement with king Birendra, and Giri left Nepal saying he didn't want to see the assassination of Panchyat with his own eyes that he founded. We have witnessed his vision already.
I would like to correct myself if what I heard is not true.
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| Binay |
Posted
on 29-Mar-02 05:08 PM
Paschim:
Interesting writing, as always. I agree with Parakhi on this one, I was so intrigued not only by the inside story, but also by the way you wrote it.
Just a comment. While it may appear that Tulsi Giri didn't have any interest in Nepali politics after he moved to Sri Lank, he reportedly planned to return to Nepal in 1990-91. I cannot recall at this moment, but Deshantar either had an article or an interview by him. I might be mistaking with a news report published around that period. In any case, he along with Bishwo Bandhu Thapa and Surya Bahadur, were among the top ones to desert the Congress. It is also interesting to note most of the MAHAMANTRIs of Nepali congress did the same thing. The list also include Shri Bhadra Sharma, Parshu Narayan Chaudhary, ....I forgot others.
Sorry, it doesn't mean to distract the thread from your interesting take.
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 29-Mar-02 10:36 PM
Thanks Parakhi et al. for your comments. On Mitra's point, that 'adult suffrage' argument sounds plausible to me, and of course it's very likely that a 'combination of factors' propelled him to migrate, but as I wrote, it was probably this realization that "panchayat isn't working" and that he was not getting his way in the very system he joined to nurture (esp. after what must have been a painful choice to make between loyalty and ambition in 2017) triggered a sense of remorse, and plain disgust. Unless Dr. Giri himself writes his memoirs one day, we won't know for sure.
On Binay's points, it is quite likely that Giri pondered a comeback after the political turnover in 1990. He'd been away for 10 yrs, and that's a life-time in politics (raat rahe agraakh palaunchha bhanchhan ni rajniti ma); but I'm quite sure he'd have been snubbed, rightly, by the Congress trio. Parashu Narayan did re-enter the Congress in 2046, but with zero attention forthcoming, he quickly left for RPP. The only deserter among thousands who seems to be "doing well" after re-entering the Congress is Arjun Narsingh KC.
Going by BP's Atmabritanta, he says, he always sought to promote the 'young and smart' guys in his party. Tulsi Giri, Biswo Bandhu Thapa, Sribhadra Sharma, Parashu Narayan Chaudhary, and of course, Rishikesh Shah, were the kind he said his hopes were pinned on. Surya Bahadur Thapa, incidentally, wasn't a member of the NC. He was just a Mahasamiti Member (Upper House) from Dhankuta in 2015. ALL of them ended up being disappointments, of course, and one big criticism of BP is that he was bad at forming surgical impressions of people. I'm not so sure, as, like the neo-liberal mantra goes, "people just respond to incentives". But the organizational form of the Congress disintegrated so badly after BP et al. were locked up for 8 yrs. that movement of people in and out of the "pratibandhit nepali kaangress" was just too fluid and vague. After the 2036 debacle and a series of defections, an irritated BP is on record for saying, "Jahan BP, Ganeshman-ji, ra Kisun-ji baschhan, Nepali Kaangress tyehi ho." And what is amusing is people like Biswo Bandhu and Sri Bhadra STILL say that they never really quit their 'mother party'. Oh well.
Anyway, just some stray thoughts on a fascinating facet of national politics that we, the children of the Panchayat, didn't get to know of late. I think Biswo mentioned Grishma Bahadur's "Nepal ko Rajnitic Darpan, Bhaag Ek" - an interesting work with lots of facts, and credible citations. Lots of memoirs are also coming out lately - and I've just been amazed at how LITTLE contradictions there are in what these old folks are narrating. I've actually been amazed and humbled to see how "intellectually honest" some of our older folks have been. I was even impressed by the controversial Nara Shumsher's reporting of events, whose engrossing memoirs just came out 2 months ago. Just one caveat befoer I stop though - Grishma Bahadur's heavily cited book IS subject to conflict of interest. He was not an academic, but a card carrying member of a small outfit loyal to Dr. Kunwar Indrajit Singh, so his claims that are not backed up by credible sources warrant further scrutiny.
Happy Weekend!
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Mar-02 11:59 AM
I agree with Parakhi. I was out of town yesterday, when I came back, I read this
article ekai saasma. Paschimji travels to uncharted territory in both casino, and
the wedding. These details from unknown areas of our politics, but which affects
are our life in Nepal, are really fascinating.
Along with King Abdullah, Nepal's minister of state for foreign affairs, Arjun Jung
Singh was there in the marriage of the daughter of Tulsi Giri. When I met Mr Singh
somedays later in Kentucky, the poor chap had one interesting thing to tell, "The
talk with Maoists failed."He said, scotching my hope of continued dialogue with
rebels back then in December,and the war with them is inevitable." Little,however,
did we know that the moment we were talking, the rebels had attacked and
overrun "successfully" Dang barrack.
In another note,BP(andTulsi Giri)'s 2015 saal's government was probably remarkble
in one aspect: the most diverse ministry ever made, I guess. Out of near 20(18?)
minister, only less than 5 (3?) were Bahuns, and rest were from different castes.
Good things need to be praised.
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 30-Mar-02 10:22 PM
When I circulated my earlier piece on "The Casino", a friend in Nepal wrote back saying although completely unrelated, that piece reminded him of the current State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Singh, who is, as we speak, facing allegations of "conduct incompatible with the dignity of office" in Nepali casinos, with women, etc. Anyway, Biswo, I don't think this Arjun fellow was there in Hanover to attend "The Wedding". This took place in October 1999, not end-2001 when you say you met this chap.
Yes, I have written someplace else also, BP Koirala's 1960 cabinet was probably the most progressive executive ever to be formed in Nepal, not only in terms of ethnic composition and regional representation, but also in matching the portfolios with the skills of the ministers. Subarna Shumsher held Finance, Ganeshman-ji held Works, Surya Prasad held Inetrior, etc. He also made it a point to induct the first woman in his Council, Mrs. Thakurani.
Lesson that I've personally drawn from this? Forming a fair, representative cabinet in a diverse nation doesn't need a degree in rocket science. It's all about a leader with authority making a no-nonsense *conscious* decision. To escape charges of nepotism, for example, BP denied his deserving brother Girija a parliamentary ticket in 2015. In political terms, Girija was then the District Chairman of the Morang Congress - a passport to parliament. Again, according to his Atmabritanta, before he finalised his cabinet, he summoned another of his favorite young turks, Sri Bhadra Sharma, to tell him that as much as he would have liked to induct him in the cabinet, there was another senior Paschimeli, Kashinath, who he had to nominate, not only for seniority and regional representation, but he had facilitated a victory for an ex-PM, but now his deputy, Subarna Shumsher, from a Paschim constituency. These are all little anecdotes that speak volumes about a conscious mind at work.
I must confess that I've found an original remark that BP Koirala made (in English) in a tribute to Nehru, just 2 years before he died, most enlightening on how I myself think about the complex issue of managing democracy. BP writes:
"To know Nehru is to know the paradoxical essence of democracy - that the masses disdain vulgarity, that aristocracy is not alien to them, and that the foundation on which political popularity of a leader rests is not political. Jawaharlal was sometimes criticized on the ground that in difficult situations he played Hamlet or swept the dirt under the carpet or that he was a dilettante. In view of the vast tasks that he performed in his lifetime and the functional democracy that he bequeathed, such critical assessments of his personality are, I think, unjust. Democracy is a balancing strategy, a strategy of compromises. A democrat who is too sure of himself is a potential dictator. Despite everything, Jawaharlal was a democrat."
Excuses that our current leaders give are lame. They only need to look back at how their own mentors functioned. Having said this, I pray that the constitutional amendment to restrict a cabinet size to 10% of MPs goes through. The future of democracy is very bright in Nepal, but slowly we will need to make the system more rules-bound, around a rational legal regime. It's the vulgarity of discretionary and unaccountable power that needs to be curbed, wherever seen, whenever found.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 30-Mar-02 11:11 PM
Paschimji:
May be I am mistaken. However, I somehow still think he mentioned something like
he attended the marriage of the daughter of "Tulsi Giri" then. And yep, your friend
was damn right, the guy is pretty notorious for his love of the infamous 'suraa
sundari' : it was obvious to me then that Mr Singh was just a local jamindaar of
somewhere a hilly region in the west whose qualification for becoming minister
was either his propinquity to Deuba or his being a key player in the game of
57.
-----
To extend the talk from another thread re army chief's remark:do you think RNA
can go ahead with its anti-parliament posture?
I just read one news in which one of our secretaries is going to the countries like
UK, USA etc to beg for military equipment that they once promised. Do you think
PSR or even the king himself will dare to touch our foundation of democracy in this
moment? Can they ask for anything after obliterating what they would love to claim
to have fought to save? I strongly doubt so. I also don't know if our people are
just 'bhedaa'.I don't think so.
Now, NC , always in Orwellian world of scheming, and marred always in its own
internal feud, asked for resignation of 'either PM or CNC'. Huh. I think they should
have been clearer. Resignation of CNC. Show who the real boss is. I think this is
the time we make our constitution better. The loss of parliamentary parties will be
even more loss of CNC Rana and his aristocratic gangs too. NC or UML have solid
ideological background. They can resurrect at any time, they have withstood
brutal regimes in the past. But will there be any sign of CNC and his gang once
they alienate themselves from popular parties and lose the fight with rebels? No.
In this crucial moment, king, CNC and everybody needs the protective umbrella of
constitutional parties more than ever. This is the time we can really do these
courageous constitutional stuffs like making palace affairs more transparent, and
subjecting royal family members to law. Provided the leadership is courageous and
honest. Sadly, we don't have such leadership, let's face it. So, I see some kind
of 'ta bhanda ma chokho' attitude in army brass against political leaders, which will
continue to go on for sometimes in future. And our leadership is so much
shamefaced, so much low in self esteem that the following specific examples of
past five years will be enough:
Some five years ago, UML leader Bam Dev Gautam, in a meeting in a western Nepal
attended by thousands of red flag carrier anti-Girija, anti-India, anti-America
slogan spewing leftists and some journalists, went to the dias in his
usual lumbering gait, haughty look and menacing face, and roared from the
dias: " .... I will inter every body who comes in my way,every reactionaries
including king, NC, etc. etc." And the crowd of extremists cheered and clapped.
Now, Mr Gautam is loitering around Balkhu Darbar, his usual roar subdued, his
election bid rejected by his constituents from Bardiya, and probably spending most of his time reading the emails from his son in Nanjing, China whom he so craftily
provided scholarship which was supposedly meant to be provided to the children
of a martyr who died for the cause of democracy in Nepal.
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 12:35 AM
Oh, absolutely, couldn't have said it better. I am of course biased in favor of an open, accountable regime as being the only option ahead for Nepal. I don't believe in the 'revolutionary' quick fixes: they are the most regressive misnomers. I believe in creating norms and systems that stick over time. As long as the rules of the game are honored, it then makes the 'general' actors who come and go pretty much inconsequential. Re. the army/palace posturing, Biswo is right, they can't afford to alienate the parties, because for all their vices, the political parties, by definition, have a big advantage: their only job is to organize people. Institutions like the army and the palace - like the local irrigation office or the district postal bureau - are mere organs of the government service mandated with specific tasks - to preside over constitutional functions, to defend lives, or mail letters to Humla and extend credit for ground water irrigation in Chitwan. The analogy is as simple as this. They can never organize people for political purposes. They're simply not built that way, to quote that line from Jerry Maguire, one of my favorite movies. Jerry also says, "you complete me" to his girl, but I'll save that for another mood and occasion :)
So, yes, swayed by short-term disillusionment, they can imagine "taking over" or flirting with what one guy called the Maoist movement, "romantic misadventurism". Any temptation "to pull a Mahendra again" will however be nothing but a right-wing equivalent of the Maoist fiasco. I am infamous within my circle for saying, in the long sweep of history, even the Maoist problem is nothing but "an interim difficulty". I was nearly stoned to death for saying that (in 1999 when the problem didn't seem this serious). I have since changed my view of course, but my point is, misadventures are tragic - like communism or civil wars - because we lose time and lives, but no, they never succeed. This whole army and palace confusion is a hangover of unfinished business from 1991. There is no option but to bring them under the constitutional fold eventually. The sooner we pull together, and they acquiesce, the better.
And to answer another poster's concern of the likelihood of petty political meddling in institutions like the army, I think the trick is to lay down the rules of the game clearly. The tragedy of the past 12 years is, we trusted the hungry to ransack a food store without announcing the legitimate rules for ransacking. This doesn't work as the benign quest for food soon takes form of a riot. I remember this line by the present 'king' of Bhaktapur, Mr. Narayanman Bijukchhe, which by the way is probably the only wise thing that he has said in his entire life: "haami beimaan huna napayera matra imaandaar dekhiyeka rahechhaun."
Just my sunday afternoon ramblings; dissent, phone-threats, hate mails, love letters, everything welcomed :)
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| aviyentaa |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:33 AM
Did King Huseein really attend that wedding? I have a clear memory that during thefall of 1998 to the Spring of 1999, King had been hospitalized in Mayo Clinic Of health in Minnessotta, USA. Right from the months of August to November, United States was preparing to mediate the peace talks between Israel and Palestine. But King couldn't go to the talks because of his illness...it was a major one I believe...Neurosurgery.I can't convince myself that when the King couldn't go to the peace talks, how could he go to Wedding? After his return to Jordan, he always remained critically ill, and died. I could be wrong, but I do remember that Mayo Clinic was treating him with brain surgery during september/october of 1998 to the spring of 1999....april.......what's the truth? let's find out.
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| Biswo |
Posted
on 31-Mar-02 11:38 AM
Aviyentaaji:
I think you are talking about King Hussain. The article talks about King Abdullah,
son of King Hussain.
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