KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has claimed that Nepal would not have transitioned into a republic had it not been for the courage of former Prime Minister the late Girija Prasad Koirala.
Speaking at a program organized by the Jai Nepal Foundation at the Rastriya Sabha Griha on Saturday, Deuba said Koirala had the resolve to challenge the monarchy at a time when the idea of a republic was unthinkable.
“Girijababu was a true fighter. Without him, the republic would never have happened. He was that brave,” Deuba said. “Back then, people couldn’t even imagine a republican system. He dared to make it happen.”
Deuba credited Koirala’s boldness and coordinating role as key factors behind Nepal’s republican transformation, even though the first Constituent Assembly failed to promulgate a constitution.
“The first constitution wasn’t drafted by the first Constituent Assembly,” he noted, “but on its very first day, it passed the motion for a republic.”
He asserted that the primary credit for Nepal’s shift to republicanism goes to Girija Prasad Koirala. “If we speak truthfully, the first credit for bringing the republic goes to him,” Deuba said. “He was the one who made it possible.”
Comment