Oli-led Government-36

 Marking National Press Day On the Anniversary Of Gorkhapatra

Siddhi B Ranjitkar

On May 7, 2016, Gorkhapatra turned 116 years. Gorkhapatra: a national newspaper run by the State-sponsored Corporation has crossed a 115-year of its life during which it has developed from a small weekly newspaper to a great daily newspaper with multi-language news and views catering the needs of the 126 ethnic Nepalese speaking 123 languages. For humans such an old age was unconceivable but Gorkhapatra has been growing vital and energetic, as time has passed. Gorkhapatra had been a weekly publication for 43 years. Then, it became a twice-a-week publication; within next three years it became a thrice-a-week publication. It waited another 24 years before becoming a daily newspaper. After Nepal became the federal democratic republic, it also became a multi-lingual newspaper. Today, Gorkhapatra has been a daily newspaper that reaches every Village Development Committee even if belatedly whereas most of the private newspapers stay in major urban areas.

A bold hereditary (it was not inheritance from a father to a son but from brother to brother) Rana Prime Minister Dev Shumsher opened up his mind to the benefit of the public liberalizing a bit of the autocratic rule, and he ruled to publish a newspaper named ‘Gorkhapatra’ once a week in 1901 for informing the public about what had been happening in the country delineating what could be published in it at the time when opening a school was a crime, asking for setting up a library proved to be a crime punishable by imprisonment, and publishing a book or a magazine was nothing but crime.

Liberal Dev Shumsher became the victim of the hardliner Rana brothers who had been waiting on line to be the prime minister. Even a little bit of liberalization of the Rana autocratic hereditary rule sent a strong negative signal and even alarm to his successors. All of them rallied behind Chandra Shumsher who was on line to be the next prime minister. They forced him to quit the office, and sent him to Dhankuta: a far eastern market town under the strict escort of the army, and made him illegal to return to Kathmandu. That was the price Dev paid for being a liberal. Anybody could guess what were the real conditions of the common folks at that time.

Anyway even if we say Dev was a liberal minded Rana prime minister, and he set the tradition of publishing a newspaper in the dark period of Rana rule, it had been to reach a few people that could read and write but they were the Ranas and those serving the Ranas, as common folks were totally illiterate except for the priests and religious teachers. Practically, publication of ‘Gorkhapatra’ had nothing to do with the common folks, as they had to struggle every day with their hard labor to earn bread for the physical survival, and they also were not literate to read a newspaper. They were kept so poor by the then administration they did not have money to buy decent clothing not to mention a newspaper. Even so, Chandra Shumsher and his brothers were not for liberalizing the Rana rule even to the benefit of the Ranas and their servants not to mention the common folks.

Then what Chandra Shumsher did after taking office was dissolved all sorts of the progressive steps Dev had taken and put the clock back even with the stronger hand than used to be. Nepalese had to live in the total darkness under the heavy load of the merciless Rana prime ministers for many years to come. He banished the first Manager Publisher of Gorkhapatra Prithvi Bahadur Singh to India. Thus, total darkness had prevailed in Nepal until the Rana rule was eradicated in 1951.

Gorkhapatra had been running as a weekly newspaper at the time when Rana prime ministers not only denied the common folks but also the then King Tribhuvan even the fundamental right to the education. They shoved King Tribhuvan in the palace not better than their cowshed, and stopped him from having any contact with the outside world thus practically denying Tribhuvan anything any human could enjoy elsewhere in the world of that time. Gorkhapatra had been only for a small inner circle of the Ranas and their servants that had enjoyed all sorts of rights and luxurious lives keeping the entire people in darkness and poverty.

So, shrewd and totally authoritarian Chandra did not stop the publication of Gorkhapatra, as he knew only a few literate Ranas and their servants could read it but it was a good publication for publishing his own so-called glorious deeds. News and views published in Gorkhapatra were nothing but the praises for Chandra. Those news and views put Chandra above everybody including any deity.

Chandra Shumsher had earned the School Leaving Certificate from the Indian Board. He was the first Rana graduated from a school board. He knew the value of education. He had opened even a college named Tri-Chandra College. It is the joint name of Tribhuvan (the then little know king kept entirely under the control of the Rana prime ministers) and Chandra Shumsher. So, he knew the value of education. He also knew the result of educating the common folks. The popularly known among the people at that time was when Chandra came back to his royal court after opening the college he said to the courtiers, “I felt as if I hit my knee by a hammer.” Practically, he did so. He was not wrong. The college must have increased the readers of Gorkhapatra.

After becoming the once-a-week publication in 1901, Gorkhapatra became twice-a-week publication in 1944, then, after three years it became thrice-a-week publication, and finally, it became a daily newspaper in 1961, Meera Rajbhandari Amatya wrote in the supplements of Gorkhapatra published on the occasion of the marking of the National Press Day on the 116^th anniversary of Gorkhapatra on May 6, 2016. Even during the Shah-Rana rule, Gorkhapatra enjoyed being a twice-a-week publication and then a thrice-a-week publication. Even the autocrats such as Ranas felt the need for a newspaper.

Gorkhapatra became the synonymous with a newspaper. Rana prime ministers did not permit any other newspaper to publish. So, for the literate Nepalese, Gorkhapatra was the only news carrier available in Nepal at the dark period of the Shah-Rana rule. Only the elite Nepalese had an access to Gorkhapatra. Lives of the common folks were so restricted that they neither knew the existence of a Gorkhapatra nor they had any chance to see it. More than ninety nine percent of the Nepalese were farmers. They had little time for literacy and numeracy. Their lives revolved around the agricultural field working for the luxurious even lavish life-styles of the Ranas, and the Ranas had let them keep only the agricultural leftovers for their living.

With the demise of the despotic Rana family rule in 1951, Nepalese enjoyed every human right to live like any human in the democratic world. A number of private newspapers in different languages were born to compete with Gorkhapatra. So, a few literate Nepalese had the choice of reading, writing and expressing their opinions in their mother tongues. Educating the people got the first attention in the democratic Nepal. Nepalese started off opening schools in thousands libraries in hundreds, and debating society in tens. Thus, Nepal was on the fast track of developing education.

However, it was for not long another despot called King Mahendra took away all the rights to education from the people in 1960. First thing Mahendra did was to stop opening schools, libraries and clamp down on the debating societies. He brought all the private schools under his control. He made school textbooks nothing but the description of the deeds of his ancestors and his own. Thus, Mahendra turned the hands of clock back to the period of the despotic rule this time that of the Shahs. However, Gorkhapatra enjoyed being the mouthpiece of the new autocratic ruler: the Mahendra Shah.

In 1962 after the adoption of a new constitution, a law was enacted to set up a State corporation called Gorkhapatra Corporation to run Gorkhapatra beyond the control of the State, Dhruva Hari Adhikari wrote in the supplements of Gorkhapatra published on the occasion of marking of the National Press Day on the 116^th anniversary of Gorkhapatra on May 6, 2016. The then government had contributed NPR 30 million as a grant to the corporation to run the publication of Gorkhapatra. It had earned a lot from the ads, as the State ads went to it in addition to some private ads.

Thus the autocrat King Mahendra pretended to make Gorkhapatra an independent from the control of the State setting up a Gorkhapatra Corporation. He made it a mouthpiece of his no-party system panchayat instead. Unlike the Rana prime ministers that had deliberately kept Gorkhapatra from growing, King Mahendra expanded the publication of Gorkhapatra for the benefit of his administration. Gorkhapatra totally served his interest in the administration and in the propaganda he launched against democracy, and political parties that he effectively banned.

Even though Mahendra had restricted the expansion of education for the common folks he kept Gorkhapatra going on even expanding to his need not realizing Gorkhapatra had been making literate Nepalese aware of what had been going on elsewhere in the world thus making them politically conscious. Even though he had been successful to clamp down on the politicians and their political activities he could not keep the growing number of literate people from knowing the political and economic development taking place elsewhere in the world. Gorkhapatra became one such agent to create the political awareness in the common folks without Mahendra realizing it.

Dhruva Hari Adhikari also wrote in the same supplements of Gorkhapatra that Gorkhapatra reporters had smartly dug into the palace and published the news about what the palace people had been doing to counter the newly crafted constitution in 1990. Certainly, after the exposure of the palace conspiracy, the then commander of the people’s movement Ganeshman Singh warned the then King Birendra of from then on people would rule the country not the king in other words Ganeshman Singh said to the king that from then on people would select a prime minister not the king.

Going back to the panchayat era, my experiences in reading the Gorkhapatra had been the full praises of the king and his system called no-party panchayat. Gorkhapatra was supposed to be independently run by its corporation; unfortunately it had been not so, yet. During this dark period of panchayat, I used to buy all private newspapers (at that time it did not cost so much as of today) for two reasons: one was for getting the correct picture of what had been happening, as Gorkhapatra presented only one sided picture of panchayat and its boss the king; the second reason was to keep the private newspapers going.

Today, the picture of the private newspapers and the Gorkhapatra has interchanged their positions drastically. I rely on the news and views published in Gorkhapatra, and of course, on other State media, too because they were reliable and trust worthy whereas the private newspapers often published the news and views on their political party line distorting the truth. So, today, my only subscription has been the ‘Gorkhapatra’. It did not mean that I did not read other newspapers but with care and reservation about what they published online or in print.

After Nepal became the federal democratic republic, Gorkhapatra went several steps ahead of from the previous position. It has been publishing one-page news and views in other two Nepalese languages in addition to several pages in Nepali and some ads in English every day. So, every issue of Gorkhapatra has been carrying news, views, and ads in four languages thus it became a multi-language newspaper.

Meeta Chaudhary writing in the supplements of Gorkhapatra published on the occasion of the marking of the National Press Day on the 116^th anniversary of Gorkhapatra on May 6, 2016 has said that Nepal has 126 ethnic groups, and they speak 123 languages; Gorkhapatra has been publishing news and views in 30 languages out of the 123 prevailing Nepalese languages since 2007; if Nepali and English are to add to those languages, then Gorkhapatra has been publishing everything in 32 languages.

Again going back to the panchayat time and beyond, common folks had to accept the one-language and one-culture policy of the then government. Ethnic Nepalese speaking any language other than Nepali had a little chance of developing their language. They also did not have a chance to develop their culture. Those were the days of the Shah-Rana rulers.

In fact, the then Rana prime minister had jailed some people belonging to the Nevah community for writing poems in their mother language. The Shah-Rana rulers had discouraged to open schools even imprisoned some people for opening a school. Asking for publishing a literary magazine had been considered as a crime. Opening a library had been another crime for which people served a jail term.

Today’s Nepalese have been very lucky, as the dark days of the Shah-Rana rule have gone, and they have the liberty to develop their language and culture. They could publish their news and views in Gorkhapatra in turns in their respective language. They also privately could run newspapers, radios, and literary magazines in their mother languages. That is what the difference between the Shah-Rana rule and the people’s rule.

Gorkhapatra Corporation has done a good job of marking the anniversary of Gorkhapatra as the National Press Day. I hope that it will help to keep the press freedom means providing correct news and views not the party-line news and views. Without the freedom of media, common folks will not have the correct news and views.

Some fans of the market economy have been advocating for privatizing ‘Gorkhapatra’ means selling it to a private company believing a private company will run it better and efficiently. Private companies are efficient only when they have competitors otherwise they will be worse particularly when they have monopoly on the products they produce. I strongly oppose it, as Nepal needed a State-run newspaper even after Nepal became federal democratic republic because the real market economy has not taken the roots in Nepal.

The weak ethnic groups will have the chance of publishing news and views in Gorkhapatra at least in its turn as along as the State-owned Gorkhapatra Corporation runs it. Once, Gorkhapatra becomes the private property it will be used for earning revenue as much as possible rather than serving the readers and the ethnic people. It will become as one of the current private newspapers mainly publishing the half-naked pictures of models and movie stars to attract the attention of the readers. Once Gorkhapatra becomes a privately owned newspaper, ethnic people will lose the opportunity of publishing their news and views in the languages they speak. Keep Gorkhapatra in the State control.

May 12, 2016