BRB, then and now

At the height of the Maoist insurgency in 2003, former classmates and rivals Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Devkota were once again on opposite sides. Bhattarai was the ideologue of the Maoists while Devkota was Health Minister under king Gyanendra.

Two decades later, neurosurgeon Devkota is no more while Bhattarai is still active in politics, after serving as finance minister and Nepal’s only prime minister with a PhD. But that does not seem to have helped with his politics.

Excerpts from the report published 20 years ago this week from issue #142 25 April – 1 May 2003: When Thomas Varughese came to Nepal from Kerala to teach in a missionary school at Luitel Bhanjyang in Gorkha, he knew he wanted to raise a generation of well-educated Nepalis who would be dedicated professionals in their fields.

Two of his brightest students-Baburam Bhattarai and Upendra Devkota-went on to stand first and second in the whole country in the 1970 SLC exams and may soon be sitting face to face across the negotiating table to find an end to the Maoist insurgency.

After leaving Gorkha in the early 1970s, Thomas and Mary set up three schools in Kailali. The Maoists’ ideological campaign against the country’s education system badly affected the Gorkha school as well as those in Kailali.

The Maoists closed down two other missionary schools in Gorkha and Thomas’ Kailali school was bombed and torched last year, although the Maoist leadership denied responsibility.

Thomas and Mary are hoping to meet Baburam soon. What is the one question they want to ask him? Thomas says: “I will ask him, Baburam, where do you think you went wrong?” And he even has an answer for his own question, “His goals are good, but the end never justifies the means. Violence begets violence, he is a smart boy, he should learn from history.” From archive material of Nepali Times of the past 20 years, site search: www.nepalitimes.com