| Username |
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| noname |
Posted
on 14-Jan-03 06:51 AM
SARDAR YADUNATH KHANAL
It appears from the press report that a book on YN Khanal by Dr. Jayaraj Acharya is about to be published. This week's KANTIPUR KOSHELI carries an article about the book and another one article is there from Devendra Bhattarai about SAR Khanal. SAR Khanal undoubtedly was an authority of Nepali Diplomacy during the Panchayat-era. Though unsuccessfully, KP Bhattarai too tried to use his knowledge and skill. Although the book seems to be a re-collection of his past published works, Dr. Acharya must have done some rendering to make it worth reading and re-reading.
SAR Khanal was a key player in the 1965 treaty with India and must have an insider's knowledge about Kalapani issue. It is strongly believed by some quarters that after their loss in 1962 war with China, Nehru had asked for the Kalapani area – because of it's strategic location, and Nepal agreed to give it under some hidden package-agreements. I sincerely hope the new book sheds some light in this issue too.
It's good trend that people have started taking interest in legendary figures during their lifetime itself. Many aspects of NR Panta, RK Shah and LS Bangdel were highlighted only after their death.
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| isolated freak |
Posted
on 14-Jan-03 12:19 PM
dear noname,
I am not excited about the book. Sardar Yadunath Khanal being Sradar Yadunath Khanal, I don't think there will be anything new in that book. Yes, he was involved in the 1965 military treaty and probably he is the only one who knows what really happened, but I don't think Jaya Raj Acharya could get any new information from him regarding the treaty.
I read the excerpt that was on saturday's kantipur kosheli. I thought his meeting with Jharendra Narayan Singh (second RNA to Delhi and foreign secretary) regarding the Ramailo Mela Kanda ( tauko fodafod kanda) was quite interesting. Other than that, i didn't find anything interesting in that article/excerpt.
What really impresses me about him is his zeal for learning even at the age of 90. Sardar baje's favorite line is "tapaiko adhyayan nai pugeko chaina".
a freak
PS: Jharendra Narayan Singh is yet another pesronality from whom we can learn many things, especially the things that are not written in our history books.
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| dirk |
Posted
on 15-Jan-03 09:09 AM
Isolated Freak,
Do you kow that JNS's eccentic ways and obsession with punctuality..his high teas every afternoon and sitdown dinners.... and his love for golf? He even gave some money to name a school afte his beloved wife. Talahar Raja still has style!
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| isolated freak |
Posted
on 15-Jan-03 11:54 AM
Dirk,
I once sat down with my team members and talked to JNS, and after the meeting I felt that in that 90 mins meeting i learned many things which would have taken me 9 years to learn. He is one of those people who stayed away from the limelight and let others have their share of fame.
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 16-Jan-03 12:34 AM
Noname, thanks for this info -- I knew Jayaraj Acharya was writing this book, but didn't know it is to be out soon -- I just read that excerpt in Kosheli that you referred to -- it is fascinating.
I am a late convert to the Yadunath fan club -- one of his first pieces I read was a speech he gave at TU after receiving an honorary doctorate there circa 1995 -- very impressive. YNK, the dignified scholar, diplomat, and civil servant, is perhaps one of Nepal's finest. Jayaraj Acharya is also an appropriate person to write this bio (?). Both from scholarly Brahmin families in Tanahun, both advanced students of Sanskrit and English, their association (of a revered guru and an obliging protege) goes back decades. Acharya knows a lot about Khanal, and to this day they interact regularly. He can thus give us personal glimpses and insights from Khanal that perhaps few other writers can -- but I'm not sure if that falls under the scope of this book. Every time I have had a chat with Jayaraj Acharya, he brings up Sardar Yadunath, and his amazing anecdotes. I don't know how much of these he will put in the book. These two men are also the only two Nepalis to date who have held (prestigious) fellowships at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard, founded by Kissinger when he was a professor there.
Having said this, there's also a mild conflict of interest in Acharya writing this book on YNK. Because of their close relationship, I wonder to what extent Acharya will preserve a critical eye in analyzing or even describing fairly (with sources) some of the events that YNK partook in or shaped in his heydey…clearly they ought to be scrutinized with academic disinterest…between emotional loyalty and scholarly objectivity, which side will Acharya take? Or both? Or neither? We'll find out soon -- I look forward to reading this work! Hope it's not just an edited volume of Sardar's purano writings.
And yes, Noname is right that we have to take interest in these giants before they die -- although it has been a pleasure penning spontaneous obituaries of the likes of Shah and Bangdel right here on Sajha…by no means am I perversely hastening the 90 year old Khanal's death though...may he live one hundred years and more!
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| noname |
Posted
on 16-Jan-03 06:53 AM
IF, I suppose, JNS is still active in shaping the foreign policy of Nepal and he is one of the key figure who gives input to the KING in the issues related but not limited to foreign policy. It's indeed a great achievement in itself to serve as a key person for all of the FOUR Kings of modern Nepal.
>>I once sat down with my team members and talked to JNS
Recently? I mean, after this HAL-CHAL? I am interested!
PASCHIM,
>>one of his first pieces I read was a speech he gave at TU after receiving an honorary doctorate there circa 1995
Isn't it that same speech where he mentioned about his entourage with KP Bhattarai in interim period? If I remember correctly he had mentioned in the speech that during the visit the then Swiss PM had suggested our PM that Nepalese should start considering their manpower and mountains as the key resources instead of taking them as hindrances for the development. Although I know this was mentioned by SAR Khanal in a TU publication, I am unable to recollect when and on what occasion!
>>Jayaraj Acharya is also an appropriate person to write this bio (?).
A complete work on a person like SAR Khanal should have three separate entities depicted by KRISHNA CHARITRA, MAHABHARAT and GEETA all merged in one. After witnessing the Dr. Acharya - GR SHARMA episode on the BP KO ATMABRITANTA issue and his 'involvement' after his diplomatic career, I have some doubts about his 'appropriateness'. You know him better than I do. I sincerely hope that Dr. Jayaraj Acharya proves me wrong and makes the book a worthy collection.
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| dirk |
Posted
on 16-Jan-03 08:53 AM
Here is an article that appeared in The People's Review sometime back that has some reference to Sardar Khanal when he was our envoy to the US.
http://www.yomari.com/p-review/2001/10/04102001/view1.html
Government's friendly gesture to the U.S, despite of communists.
YADAV KHANAL
At a press meet organized in Washington for King Mahendra during his state visit to the United States in the late '60s of the past century, an American Correspondent had happened to ask the contemporary (Royal) Nepalese Ambassador as to what Nepal could pay back to America for the aid and assistance for which the Nepalese Government expressed gratefulness to it. Prof. Yadunath Khanal, who was then the country's Ambassador in the United States, could not come out with any reply. Probably, he couldn't conceptualize anything about how Nepal could have been able to reciprocate with the United States in the matter. His failure to reply to the journalist irked Crown Prince Birendra, who was accompanying his father on his official sojourn in the U.S, and he started pestering Khanal with asking why he was keeping his lips sealed over the matter while, as a representative of the country, he was supposed to speak up anything, no matter in whatever manner, as he had to by way of answering the nagging and professionally curious journalist. If he was as bright-minded enough as many of his admires still keep claiming him to be, Khanal should have his answer in place. Probably, he kept his mouth shut due to his thinking that as a poorest country in the world, Nepal had nothing to return in gratitude to the globe's richest nation. That sort of attitude verging on dullness would never have become of an Ambassador who has remained a role model for civil servants, particularly, for those who happen to come down from the different hill regions of the country to make their way to various sectors in the administrative service. Had he been a formally trained diplomat, Khanal's answer to the querying newsman would have something like this: "The world's richest country America could not have needed anything in material terms from an underdeveloped Nepal. However, if something unforeseen evil happens to her, Nepal remains prepared to come to its side, at least, with a great deal of goodwill and moral sympathy. Supposing some natural or man-made calamity befell the US, my government would come forward to cooperate with the people and government of the US and also try, as best it could, to mitigate any such difficulties." However, Khanal, failing to face the Crown Prince with some appropriate reply, happened to justify his failure to answer the newspaperman's question by bursting in words which tantamounted to nothing lesser than violation of all norms of decency and decorum. He chipped in to say to the Crown Prince, "Your Royal Highness has yet much and many things to learn. I know what to say or not to say to persons in a given situation". To tell the truth, this is the time, this time of the American crisis, the crisis also for Nepal and for the rest of the freedom-loving nations of the world, for coming forward to render any assistance, within their capacity, to the United States.
To read the rest of the article please go to the link provided above.
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| noname |
Posted
on 16-Jan-03 05:14 PM
dirk, thanks for pointing to the article.
Based on one single incident, which may equally be an unjustified exagerration, the writer has challenged SAR Khanal's capacity of on-the-spot diplomatic response because of not being 'formally trained diplomat'!
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| Paschim |
Posted
on 16-Jan-03 09:43 PM
Dirk, that was an intriguing anecdote from another Khanal. Thanks! It would be interesting to know more about the exact context of if/when/how those exchanges took place. Am curious...but reminds me of a beautiful obituary on Lainsingh Bangdel by one Debendra Bhattarai in Kantipur that I'd posted on Sajha a while ago...minor, inevitable, and perhaps healthy irritations of greatness!
Noname, that speech if I remember right was more on his connections to the world of teaching, and our state of education, and less on the political happenings then, although he did refer to all the ugly things happening during the hung parliament hangama, post-94...on Jayaraj-ji, I have my honest, private views on the man and his record, but for now am strictly talking about my expectations from his authorship. We'll see what comes out, and take it from there!
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| NirajBS |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 11:37 AM
Here's another anecdote I heard about Prof. YaduNath Khanal, that doesn't show him in a particularly good light either. I heard it from a friend (and cannot say if it's indeed true.)
1990, Jana Andalon- Lots of teachers and students from TU had joined in the protest. There was a talk program at Kirtipur campus in which both the students and faculty were present. Prof. Khanal's son, a teacher, was also apparently present albeit as an audience member.
The police gheraoed (is that the correct spelling ?, The Indian papers use it all the time.) the auditorium and arrested everyone- organizers as well as audience. Prof Khanal's son was also among those arrested.
When mass-arrests like these occur, the police keep everyone for a night or two and release everyone exept the organizers. There were protests spilling everywhere across the valley and they wouldn't have a place to accomodate all the protesters.
Prof khanal came to know of the arrest. He tried to use his influence to get his son out. But the situation was very volatile. Everyone was trying to save their own skin. It seemed that nobody was listening to him. It was already eight in the evening and his 'buhari' was already agitated. And the old man himself lost it. In anger he shouted-'Aba dekhi ma yo raja lai kehi pani sallah dinna' (I am not going to advise this King any longer.)
Prof. Khanal's son was released later in the evening at 9:00pm.
A trifle, perhaps. But here is a man, for all his erudition and intelligence, served the Panchayati governments in various capacities. All the time when the democratically elected Prime Minister (BP's Nepali Congress got elected with two thirds majority.) was rotting in a Kathmandu jail, without so much as a trial. For all those years, I don't think Prof. Khanal once publicly brought up the issue about the incarceration without trial of a popularly elected Prime Minister. Instread, he happily served the Panchayat regime as Ambassador to US and India. And was consulted numerous times by both King Mahendra and Birendra.
But when his son was arrested for a few hours,he was willing to server his ties with the Palace.
I think there was a thread somewhere here about being smart, intelligent and wise. Sardar Khanal- like many other Nepalis- was both smart and intelligent. But wise ? When we talk about being wise, the moral dimension also inevitably enters into the picture. Being wise would also mean being courageous- to stand up for what you believe in- no matter what the price. I think few among us would qualify for that.
If the above anecdote is true (which I think it is), Sardar Khanal isn't among them.
Niraj
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| bhedo |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 04:30 PM
NirajBS, your story can basically be summed up by the last two letters of your pseudonym, BS. Prof. Khanal didn't have to use his influence to get his son out. All the professors were let go by the police after only ***A DAY*** of incarceration.
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| dirk |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 04:43 PM
Bhedo, you should read carefully, Niraj is talking about hours after the arrest not days. how about your pseudonym; what does that say about you?
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| bhedo |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 04:48 PM
If he was arrested for only a day, how much time did the old man have to use his "influence", silly? And how do you know that he said those words? Did he say it in public? Sources? That anecdote is just a rumor floating around.
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| bhedo |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 05:02 PM
And you're assuming that the old guy knew about his son's arrest as soon as he got jailed. It takes time for news to get dispersed. You think it travels in light's speed? Pffft, hours. That's a bunch of horse poop.
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| noname |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 05:23 PM
Niraj BS, you have put forward a valid argument. This issue about those serving in Panchayat period was a hot discussion topic in early days of restoration of democracy. Nayraj Panta is also known to have gone against 'PENDOWN' and 'KALO-PATTI' in academy. It's definitely true that they did not raise voice against cruelty of Panchayat regime. Even after BP and others returned to the country realizing the threat of growing Indian ambition, those giving feedback to the King including SAR Khanal were mum in this issue.
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| bhedo |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 05:31 PM
Oh please. Define "ambassador" for me, will you?
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| noname |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 07:04 PM
Bhedo, I quite agree with your sarcastic expression that his role has to be judged in the capacity of 'ambassador' only. ( I hope I read your metaphor correctly)! But during that period ambassadors were not mere 'ambassador' but rather 'royal ambassador'. And it is no secret that he had very good ( i would say, casual) relationship with palace (Late King Birendra, then Crown Prince, himself portrayed SAR Khanal). And ambassador to some countries had very high esteem (MP Koirala, ex-PM, was designated ambassador to US!) in the heydays of coldwar.
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| khaja biscuit |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 08:59 PM
Let us now trash the venerable Sardar on the Web, with glee and with anonymity. What other gossip has Nirajji heard about Sardar Khanal from independent historical sources so that we can badmouth Khanal more? One knows that BP Koirala slept around like a sailor and cheated on his wife as long as he lived.
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| khaja biscuit |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 09:21 PM
Nirajji wrote: "I heard it from a friend (and cannot say if it's indeed true.)". Then, in
the same posting at the end, Nirajji concluded, "If the above anecdote is true (which I
think it is) . . ." From "cannot say if it's true" in the beginning to "I think it is true" at the end of the *same* posting . . . . . . Obviously, Nirajji wants to believe about Sardar Khanal what he *wants* to believe, and that's his prerogative. Lesson? If one really wants to believe something bad about others, any flaw in logic, any act of self-deception will make one believe that about others.
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| khaja biscuit |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 09:30 PM
Somehow for Nepalese Congress members, BP's sleeping around was just another sign that the man and his linga were indeed worthy of worship.
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| nam_p |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 10:03 PM
Khaja Biscuit says: "Nirajji wrote: "I heard it from a friend (and cannot say if it's indeed true.)". Then, in the same posting at the end, Nirajji concluded, "If the above anecdote is true (which I think it is) . . ." From "cannot say if it's true" in the beginning to "I think it is true" at the end of the *same* posting . . . . . . Obviously, Nirajji wants to believe about Sardar Khanal what he *wants* to believe, and that's his prerogative.
Granted there is a difference between what one hears and what one thinks. I don't know if the above anecdote is true because I have no way of verifying the source. But I *think* it's true because it's very plausible. If people want to trash Sardar Khanal and *manufacture* innundoes against him,they can surely come up with juicier stuffs.
Khaja Biscuit says: Lesson? If one really wants to believe something bad about others, any flaw in logic, any act of self-deception will make one believe that about others. "
Very well put, Khaja. And I will leave it to the readers of Sajha to decide to whom it best applies.
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| suva chintak |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 10:07 PM
Dear khaja biscuit,
BP is old hat now, just listen to Kancha Koirla's (Girija) ongling (s)exploits, long after his wife died. I think Girija beats BP by a long margin in this department. Just talk to a good Congressi, preferably from Biratnagar. The stories will make even Bill Clinton look like an amateur Don Juan!
Jai Nepal!
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| suva chintak |
Posted
on 17-Jan-03 10:23 PM
Sajhabasis,
Let me tell you all something from my own personal experience when over 700 professors and students were arrested from TU Auditorium. I think it was March 7, 1990. Once the police brought us to the Baggi Khanna, the prisioners were divided into several groups. The medical doctors, senior professors, readers, lecturers, and then the large group of students like myself.
Soon, some of the senior profs and doctors began demanding with the police officers to talk to the police bosses and ministries. I remember Prof. Surya Lal Amatya blasting his ire at Achut K. Kharel, who I think was the chief of operations in the valley. "Why doesn't he come to meet me now, other times he comes to say 'Oh sir, oh sir'!", Prof. Amatya said in his characteristic tone.
Others who had powerful connections began using the junior police officers to get in touch with their families or Mantris and secretaries to get out. It was quite a mela that night.
So by late that night, all the doctors, profs, readers, and lecturers had been released in that order. Panchayat, it seems, followed its stuffy hierarchy right down to its end!
The students were kept there for the next eight days in the celler. And the rest is, history!
So, if Mr. Khanal junior was there that night, it is possible that his family knew of his detention within an hour or two. I am sure senior Khanal used his considerable diplomatic skills to rescue his son out of the crisis...given the circumstances, wouldn't you?
Peace and justice!
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| khaja biscuit |
Posted
on 18-Jan-03 09:44 AM
"So, if Mr. Khanal junior was there that night",
It's a big if. Until that "if" turns into "certainly", all one is left with is a strand of rumour. Nirajji has already given his grand, judge-jury-executioner style, in a ponderous manner, "When we talk about being wise, the moral dimension also inevitably enters into the picture." Not being as wise as Nirajji, a biscuit like this prefers to *suspend judgement* on Sardar Khanal on account of this rumour and give him the benefit of doubt until charges are independently verified.
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| vision |
Posted
on 18-Jan-03 07:57 PM
Ok ok fellas, before we continue with this thread on this Sardar guy, does anyone care to tell us who exactly the hell he is?
A brief introduction would be helpful to some of us novice sajhaties.
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| khaja biscuit |
Posted
on 18-Jan-03 08:33 PM
There is no brief introduction. Nirajji, whose nose-picking preoccupation with "the moral dimension" stands in sharp constrast to his spreading gossip in this thread, has already delivered his unidimensionally dull verdict on the complicated, complex and layered life of the venerable Sardar. Niarajji would have no trouble to use his branch of black-and-white moral philosophy to paint *the entire* Thomas Jefferson as a scoundrel for owning slaves. But then, who can blame him? If only the all lives were so simple, unambiguous and uncomplicated!
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| vision |
Posted
on 18-Jan-03 09:12 PM
OK OK wrong thread....Phewww!!!!!!
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| isolated freak |
Posted
on 24-Jan-03 11:11 PM
Finally back to this thread:
I personally feel that Sardar baje is over-rated. We also need to do research on people who made him who he is now. It was his effort + other people who were equally good (if not better), who helped him become Sardar baje. People like Mahendra Sarkar, Jharendra Narayan Singh, Laxmi Lal Shrestha and others contributed to his growth as a diplomat.. hoina ra?
thaha chaina, sunya matra ho... galati hola taysko lagi agrim xyama-yachana.
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