KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 23

The biography of former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa was launched today.

Late Thapa's autobiography titled 'Mera nau dashak, five systems, five kings, and five-time prime minister' was launched here today.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Baburam Bhattarai, Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal jointly launched the book.

Addressing the programme, PM Deuba said that former PM Thapa was a friendly leader who had good grasp of geopolitics and internal politics.

He said Thapa's biography would be a good reference material for those interested in learning Nepal's political history.

Former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal said many people had wrong view about the CPN- MC. They believed the party had not changed after it joined the mainstream. He said the party had no option but to launch insurgency, but ever since the party joined the mainstream it was committed to peaceful politics. 'Had our party not cared about peace and democracy, the party would not join the mainstream,' Dahal said.

Former PM Bhattarai said that he learnt a lot from Thapa when he was the chair of Constituent Assembly panel to hold dialogue with stakeholders and to forge consensus.

Bhattarai said that Thapa's understanding of the Maoist party's intent during the Katuwal episode was not right.

'Thapa has admitted his role in the Katuwal episode. A narrative was built then that Maoists were trying to capture the Nepali Army but our only intention was to make NA responsible to the people,' he said.

Bhattarai also said the 12-point agreement was drafted by him, KP Sharma Oli, and Narayan Kaji Shrestha but again a narrative was built that India played a role in that agreement.

Author of the book Ganesh Paudel said that he and journalist Kedar Sharma prepared Thapa's biography 15 years.

He said they interviewed Thapa on 99 occasions for a length of 310 hours. He said Thapa candidly gave details of his association in politics, including his role in the Panchayat system, circumstances that led to his imprisonment in the Panchayat era and his role in the post-1990 democratic era.

Journalist Hari Bahadur Thapa who edited the book, said Thapa's clarification helped people understand political history in the right perspective.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 23, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.