His Excellency Mr. Ranjit Rae, Indian ambassador to Nepal
Chief guest of this
historic occasion Professor Jayaraj
Acharaya, Nepal’s former Ambassador to United Nations, and the guest speaker today,
Shree Abhaya K jyoo and office bearers
from BPKF, Embassy of India
Dr Bishnubibhu Ghimire President of the Nepali Writers Association and other members
Distinguished scholars, academicians,
creative writers, artists, media persons and audiences
It
gives me an immense pleasure to have this opportunity to welcome you all
as a coordinator of B P Koirala Centenary
Committee for Nepali Writers’ Association in this august gathering which is attended by luminaries in the field of art
culture, diplomacy and humanity from
India and Nepal. One major partner taking initiatives
in bringing this event up to this mark is B P
Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, Embassy
of India. Nepali Writers’ Association is
the legacy of oldest literary organisation in Nepal dedicated to the cause of
freedom and and democracy, one of its
founding members being B P Koirala
himself more than six decades ago. So we worked hard in association with the diplomat
poet Mr. Abhaya K and and a very
energetic young officer Mr. Pankaj K Mallick
about a year to bring our common dream into reality. His Excellency Ranjit Rae joined his office as an Ambassador only a few
days back so we are happy and fortunate to have the new
Ambassador as a chief guest in this occasion and Nepali Writers’ Association extends its warmest welcome to his Excellency and wishes most
successful of days during his tenure in
Nepal. In fact
this is the inaugural ceremony of
B P Koirala lecture series which has been organised on his birth day.
This lecture series will go throughout
the year, one lecture every month for
which Abhaya K ji has generously given us very friendly signals.
Nepali Writers’ Association has drafted a list of various programmes and
activities to be conducted throughout the year in order to
commemorate the centenary. We hope we
will stand jointly together in the days to come. B P Image inspires us to stand
together in Nepal and India both.
I would
like to borrow a few words from B P K F site
posted by Embassy of Nepal, New
Delhi; It introduces B P as: Bishwesawr
Prasad Koirala after whose name the Foundation is established is a symbol of
Nepal renaissance. His ideas and visions made him a unique mixture of
liberation, humanism, and social justice. He was a crusader against all forms
of injustice perpetrated in various forms and through various agencies, state and non state. He occupies unique place
in politics, literature and intellectual thinking process, making
him a statesman politician. B P
had the distinction of being the first elected Prime Minister following his
party’s overwhelming victory in the 1959 general election. B P’s involvement in
the Indian national movement and its impact on his political thinking process
made him a close friend of of India.
So this togetherness today symbolises
friendship, and the celebration symbolises our honour from both the people and reverence
to BP’s life and his
immense contribution. In fact in a life span of 69 years he spent all in
struggle for freedom and democracy except two years of his tenure in the
government portfolio.
In
the 10th January 1977
entry of his jail dairy B P has divided his life time thus : I am 62 years old now, I
spent 25 years in Nepal, and 38 years of my life in India.
I spent 19 years in Banaras, 8 years in Patna, 5 years in Tedhi, 3 years in Calcutta, 2 years in Hajaribag
jail, and 1 year in Darjeeling. So naturally his life of innocence, enjoyment, learning and sufferings,
struggles and even exile is shaped by
the great legacy extant in the
Bharatvarsha though he struggled for freedom of the Nepalese people wherever he
was until his death. These
experiences are reflected in his
life and works later on. BP is a mutual friend and the B P K F a cultural bridge
between the two lands. We have immense
space to to study, explore and share B
P’s teaching and experience. We together will
have long way to go. I hope we will be together in this journey of
civilization.
We would like to meet again in the next lecture
series and a host of other programmes to
be organised throughout Nepal and some in parts of India like Benares, Patna, Darjeeling, Assam, Dehradun
and Calcutta. Some friends from Calcutta have already arrived Kathmandu in
order to plan B P Koirala centenary commemoration programme in Calcutta. We are
also organising some of centenary
programmes in Europe America and different parts of Asia. I hope
Nepali Writers’ Association will be successful in in journey democracy and humanity.
Finally, I express my sincere thanks to the Ambassador
His Excellency for his
graceful presence
and Prof. Acharya for his delivery and valued
scholars as audiences for their presence.
Thanking you
all.
Govinda Raj Bhattarai
Coordinator
B P Koirala centenary celebration
committee, NWA
9th September 2013 (
Bhadra 24, 2013)
Nepal Bharat Pusatakalaya
Kathmandu
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