A system of Bhagabanda

By Narayan Prasad Mishra

There was an organization that was often heard and known in Nepal, especially among the educated elite people around the year 1960 called “The Colombo Plan.” It was established by 7 countries – Australia, Canada, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the United Kingdom in 1950 to strengthen the economic development and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. Later on, it was expanded to 27 member countries. Its birth came out of the Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Sri Lanka — hence, the name the Colombo Plan. Its head office was also in Colombo. One of its objectives was to promote technical cooperation and assist in the sharing and transfer of technology among member countries. Nepal became its member in 1952. 

Shanti Mishra, my beloved wife, the first woman professor, the first chief librarian of the Tribhuvan University, and the first woman to possess a Masters Degree in Library Science and I, myself, the chief administrator, the chief of the University Service Commission Office with 28 years of experience of the university work, and honest service, and an author of five books and the first book on Tribhuvan University were forced to retire in 1993 earlier to the nine and 14 years of our retirement age respectively due to the anti-professional political decision of Kedar Bhakta Mathema, who became the Vice-Chancellor of T.U. under the system of bhagabanda politics and the system of the political caste. I was just 49 years then.

A large number of people needed for the development of our nation in different fields – education, health, engineering, agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, etc. were educated and trained under its scholarship program. According to our needs and requests, the scholarships were provided and after the advertisement, the candidates used to select on a merit basis, based on the prescribed criteria, their marks obtained in the required certificate from the beginning to the time of political change in 1989. The selected and trained manpower were well and qualified from any standard. After their education, they became strong pillars of our infrastructure. One could look and appreciate the calibre of our medical doctors, engineers, scientists, university professors, government administrators, etc. who were in the country of that production. 

If they were selected and sent for studies without any basis, criteria, or merit, sticking to the criteria of near and dear, distributing, and sharing of scholarships among political party workers, relatives, and friends what would have been our infrastructure? It is very difficult to witness how the politics of our bhagabanda (sharing and dividing among themselves), the system of our bhagabanda, and the administration of our bhagbanda is ruining the country now.

In this context, I just remember an incident that was related to one of our embassies. I was in the Delhi University to study library science around the year 1966 under “The Colombo Plan Scholarship, ” I was nominated by the university to do a master’s course and was given two years’ leave. Completing a year after my first-year examination I came home during the summer vacation. Instead of enjoying my vacation on personal things I even worked in our library to help my girlfriend Shanti Shrestha, who was the chief of the institution. To my surprise, when I went back to start my second year, I was not admitted to the class despite me passing my first-year examination. The Department Head said that they were instructed to admit me again by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. When I explained to them that I was sent by my university to study two years course, the Department Head said they had nothing to do with my university. The first-year course is called Bachelor of Library Science (B. Lib) and the second-year course is called Master of Library Science. They are two separate courses with two independent degrees. For that reason, they had no system of giving admission for two years together about which our university and I had no idea at all. I was in a great problem. I had no admission and no scholarship, no money.

Having nowhere to turn, I decided to go to our Nepal Embassy to see if anything could be done. There I met Surya Bikram Gyawali, cultural attaché, a well-known historian of our country, who was in the service of the Royal Nepal Academy before he went to that position. I explained everything to him showing the documents which I had from our Ministry, our University, and the Indian Cooperation Mission to Nepal. There were three officers in his office. No one dared to telephone and talk to the officials of the Ministry of Education Affairs, India for my cause. They said they were not in the Embassy to do the work when someone cam and request. I voiced my frustration pointing out that it would be their duty to take care of any citizen’s problem. If the citizen of our country was doing something bad living in a foreign country which would tarnish the glory of our country, they should try to mend it in whatever way they could. Same way, if the citizen of our country came with a genuine cause for help, they should represent the citizen and help. In a foreign country, the Embassy should be the guardian of the citizen living there. They were astonished to hear me.

 I could easily guess that they did not make a call on my behalf. They did not like hearing what I had to say, and I was sure they did not dare to reach out and speak to the Indian government. If we compare these diplomats with our present politically appointed diplomats I think they all were of higher competency. I ended up solving my own problem by going to the Ministry in India and meeting the Joint Secretary in Delhi, who was kind enough to see me and listen to me without an appointment. The officer wrote a letter to the University for my admission and I was officially admitted later on. I became the first Nepali who possessed a Master’s Degree in Library Science from India and got an opportunity to give a strong and untiring professional hand to my wife Shanti Mishra, the chief librarian for creating Tribhuvan University Central Library as one of the best libraries in South-East Asia. I appreciated Dr Nidhendra Raj Sharma and Dr Durgesh Man Singh Shrestha, my friends then, who became a joint secretary or a secretary and ambassador respectively later on, for their love and support when I was in this problem. 

If our embassy does not have qualified, efficient, skilful, tactful, knowledgeable, dynamic, competent individuals with a good command of English or other international languages then they would not be able to properly represent the problems of our nation or the problems of our citizens. If the people who filled the embassies got there with some kind of bhagabanda without proper knowledge, competency, and the other needed qualities, what could we expect from them? 

 It is a very sad truth that our country has introduced the system of bhagabanda since the political change in 1989 which has been continuing and seems it will be continuing. If there are vacancies in any place – ministries, departments, corporations, judiciaries (Supreme Court, Judicial Council, etc.), educational institutions (universities, University Grants Commission, Educational Board, etc.) or the constitutional organization offices, e.g. Public Service Commission, Commission for Investigation on Abuse of Authority, Panning Commission, etc., everywhere, we see and experience the system of bhagbanda. Not only do we have this system of bhagbanda, but we also have a system of a political caste system. Our political parties look like more political caste rather than the political party. They discriminate against others who do not belong to their party caste. Anyone who does not belong to any party they are considered an outcast or untouchable caste which we experienced with its unbearable and intolerable bitter taste. Even within the party, there are many sub-castes headed by different top leaders. Even if a person may be competent, honest, sincere, efficient they do not consider the person competent unless he or she belongs to their party. It is seen clearly as you see in the mirror. Professionalism with competency has been destroyed in all sectors by the political epidemic of bhagabanda and the political caste system. 

Shanti Mishra, my beloved wife, the first woman professor, the first chief librarian of the Tribhuvan University, and the first woman to possess a Masters degree in Library Science and I, myself, the chief administrator, the chief of the University Service Commission Office with 28 years of experience of the university work, and honest service, and an author of five books and the first book on Tribhuvan University were forced to retire in 1993 earlier to the nine and 14 years of our retirement age respectively due to the anti-professional political decision of Kedar Bhakta Mathema, who became the Vice-Chancellor of T.U. under the system of bhagabanda politics and the system of the political caste. I was just 49 years then.

We were so sad to stay home forcefully, by compulsion without work. Instead of providing our services, using our experiences to help improve the institution that we had dedicated our lives, we were home receiving a big amount of pension money according to the Nepali standard. We did not want to stay idle. We thought that there was so much to do and our institution demanded our honest and sincere service. Our conscience did not permit us to leave the job just enjoying the pension money — we voiced this concern in writing. They were deaf to hear our voices. They were blind to see our work. The Mathema group (Kedar Bhakta Mathema, Dr Debendra Raj Mishra, and Sudarshan Risal) was determined to commit that crime as if they were hired there for that purpose. One point to be noted in this connection that Sudarshan Risal was the deputy registrar on contract in T. U. a long time ago. Around the year 1972 when that post was advertised for permanent fill up by the University Service Commission, he could not apply as he did not meet the requirements and had to leave the job. He went to Budhanilakantha School to be a teacher. I applied for the position, stood first among four selected out of 16 candidates in the open competition examination, and became the Deputy Registrar. Now Risal, the man who was not qualified for the deputy registrar became the registrar of the University, my boss, and later even the chairman of the University Service Commission by the blessings of the Nepali Congress Party as he was the brother of Basu Risal, one of the top leaders of that party. On the other hand, we had to lose the jobs we earned by investing our blood and flesh. That was a mockery of our democracy. That was a shame for all democracy lovers. The Nepali Congress leader like GaganThapa, the young, bright, thoughtful, and courageous should know and understand this history and think, evaluate, and speak on it, not for us but the future generation if they by heart love democracy and socialism formulated by B.P. Koirala, an honourable leader. There is no use of democracy which is not in practice.

The system of bhagabanda pushed us out. What a loss to the country then. We were made the dalits (untouchables) in the political caste system as we did not belong to any political party, despite our qualification, experience, knowledge, sincerity, honesty, dedication, and unparalleled devotion to our service. We were sadder about the university not getting the benefits of our service than about us no longer have jobs. We were helpless with tears in our eyes. We had to bear this unbelievable pain. My wife left this world with this pain in 2019. The institution we served cannot speak for us. The people we served turned deaf and dumb. Time does not wait. It runs fast. I am getting old. 28 years have passed since my retirement. I have been lamenting silently about this extraordinary injustice done to us and to the institution we very actively, honestly, and efficiently served, by Mathema under the leadership and prime ministership of Girija Prasad Koirala. However, I know there is no place even to lament in our country about the injustice done to us by powerful people. Once I was told by an experienced person that “the injustice done to us by the powerful person regarded as a good person by the power circle would not even be a point to talk about. How could it be a point of complaint and discussion?” The poet laureate kabishiromani Lekhnath Poudel wrote in one of his poems “Badale Jo Garyao Kama Hunchha Tyyo Sarba Sammta.” The work done by a high-power person would be a point of unanimous view. But we always thought the wrong done by anyone, whether of high rank or high position should also be pointed wrong. The wrong would be called wrong even if it was done by God Rama or God Krishna if there was a democracy, not only in the constitution but in the practice. I had heard that during the time of the Rana period, one of its prime ministers ordered his justice to give the verdict only after hearing the first party (badi) who came to petition. I think even now the system is the same. If there is a case between two parties, the verdict would go for the one who is close to the power circle in our present system. To make our country better, to honour professionalism the political parties should not turn a deaf ear or blind eye when wrong is done. They should have the courage to point out the wrong even if the wrong is committed by someone near or dear to them. 

After a year or so we were invited for the Independence Day reception by the Embassy of the United States of America as usual. We were lucky to have the invitations with love and respect from different embassies – USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Russia, China, Korea, etc. Even though we were not in jobs with powerful positions we felt they invited us as the recognized our dedication and service to the University and our nation. To our surprise even after we no longer in our jobs we were not forgotten by our foreign dignitaries. Once in one of these gatherings, we were near our prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala. As soon as we saw him, we greeted him. He was so kind to us and asked about us and the university. It seemed that he still thought we worked in the university. When we told him that we were not in the university due to the decision of his Vice-Chancellor Mathema, he was surprised to hear it and immediately asked us to come to see him with an appointment. Calling his residential secretary Hari Sharma, who was somewhere in distance in that party, he asked him to fix an appointment for us. Sharma noted our name in his notebook and asked us to call the next day. We called Sharma on the telephone he gave several times. We got the reply that sometimes he was in the bathroom and sometimes he was with visitors. We stopped calling as we did not have the patience for chakari (sycophancy). We never got the appointment and we never were able to meet the Prime Minister. 

We knew Girija P. Koirala since they came back to Nepal after their exile in India. We used to meet ex-prime minister B. P. Babu, the supreme leader Ganeshman Singh, and him in foreign diplomatic receptions when they were, still considered as anti-national elements (arastriyatatwa) by our officials, especially by the government high officials. The officials were hesitant to talk to them and show respect to them. We saw they were ignored by these officials due to fear of losing possible promotions or even losing their jobs. But my wife Shanti and I never did so. Instead of ignoring, we respected them including the communist leaders. They had different political philosophies and views but were still working for the cause of the nation and the people. We thought the leaders also recognized this about us. One day when we were going around the Ring-Road in our car, we saw the Nepali Congress Party flag in a house on the Basbari-Chabahil Road near Narayan Gopal Chock. When we came to know that this was Koirala’s office, we went there thinking to greet and to say hello to him. At that time he was the general secretary of the party and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was the prime minister of the interim government. We went there but we saw hundreds of people gathered waiting to see him outside in the compound. So, we decided to turn back without even requesting to see him as we had no agenda. To our surprise, a gentleman named Birendra, a man with a beard, came running to us and told us we were called by Koirala. We went to his office and were called immediately inside to his room. When we greeted him, he asked us why we had come, and we were leaving without seeing him. We told him the truth that we thought of not disturbing him when we saw so many people waiting as we had no business. He said, “You should not have gone without meeting me. I know you are our well-wishers. I would have told you if I don’t have time. You know I love you both.” It turns out he had seen us from his window and sent Birendra to get us when he saw us leaving. We had not even sent in our names requesting to see him! We were so thrilled and impressed by his love for us. We left after expressing our gratitude. We were impressed by him and at that time thought he was a great leader. But at that time, he had not tasted and experienced the power of the government. I think power changes an individual.

If you speak the truth as an independent observer, you cannot blame only one political party for introducing this extremely dangerous system of bhagbanda and the system of the political caste. It is an origin of the 1989’s political system of the country. The trees of this system (system of bhagbanda and the system of political caste) were planted just after the change of 1989. Those trees became huge like pipal trees after the change in 2006 with our present constitution of the country. It came with the systems. You could easily see it if you would analyze it with a clear conscience.

 Our country is poor. People are poor. They have many varieties of problems to live and run their household. Just being honest and wishing to serve the society and the country with a hungry stomach does not work here. All have their hopes and ambitions hidden in their minds. I have experience from a man who came to me for help to be a member or a staff of the Nepal Red Cross Society and to be close to the president of that organization. He knew that I had some relations with the then president. I asked him about the intention of his wish. He said he wanted to open a ready-made garment shop. He thought he could get donated clothes free from the organization by different means which he would then sell to make a lot of money for himself. Unbelievable! I was astonished to hear it. If a member of an organization like the Red Cross that exists purely to help the needy would have some self-centred motive, then there is no expectation that the members or leaders of political parties would work without intention or wish of personal benefit. 

In this context, we can easily see that our political parties and their leaders would not be able to survive unless they have the system of bhagabanda and the system of distribution. Only by this system, they could keep anything under their control – position, power, etc and could distribute to their near and dear either in cash, commodities, positions, etc. In principle, political parties should be run by volunteers. However, no one seems to be ready to serve the country or society without any personal gain. That is why we have bhagabanda even between the prime minister and top party leaders, between leaders and leaders, between one political party and other political parties, between the government and the opposition leaders. This is the political system of sharing and distributing between political parties. If you would not earn a big share and if you stopped distributing your share to your colleagues, followers you could imagine who would be your followers. How could you get their votes and support? The system of bhagabanda and the system of distribution cannot survive without the corrupt system of administration. Without corruption where would you get the money for distribution? That is why we have corruption everywhere — municipality, ward offices, land offices, tax offices. If we want to develop our country and want to work for the welfare of our people, we should think of a system that would not need bhagabanda and this kind of power-sharing and instead involve the participation of competent people irrespective of their political parties and political caste. Otherwise, our country will, certainly, go from bad to worse. It is the truth. It is a fact.

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