Before diving into the meat of his Thursday World Leaders Forum address, Nepal thanked Columbia profusely, calling his speech a “great prestige and honor” for “me personally and my country.” He commented that Columbia has “established itself as a global institution and a meeting point of the east and west, north and south.”
He also said he is “happy to learn that Columbia is one of the few universities in the U.S. where there are several faculty members who are specialists on Nepal,” and that Columbia “even offers Nepali language courses, and [here] many Nepalese have acquired quality higher education.”
University President Lee Bollinger’s absence from the event—Provost Claude Steele introduced Nepal instead—did not stop the prime minister from addressing significant portions of his speech to Bollinger. “Mr. President, you have been an ardent champion of First Amendment and freedom of speech that constitute the fundamental core of the Bill of Rights,” he said, adding that Bollinger has “established and endeared yourself as an institution rather than an individual.” Too bad Bollinger wasn’t around to appreciate the admiration.
After reciting a litany of famous alumni, he said he was thrilled to not only be at Columbia, but also in its country. “Nepal-U.S. relations have always remained cordial and the government of the United States has supported the government of Nepal in consolidation of its sovereignty and independence, its development endeavors, and our struggle for democracy and civil liberties,” he said.
Then, he turned his focus on the state of Nepal since the end of its civil war between the government and Maoist rebels in 2006 and its transition to democracy.
“There is an unprecedented level of hope and expectations as a new Nepal is being born,” he said. After the Maoists agreed to sign a peace agreement to end the civil war and re-establish democracy, “the country has come a long way in its most crucial political transformation in its history.” Last year, Nepal elected a constituent assembly to draft its constitution.
“With no violence and least political turmoil, the new constituent assembly consigned almost two and half centuries-old monarchical institution to history,” he said.
Throughout the speech, the prime minister stressed the challenging nature of what is being accomplished in Nepal, and he is very hopeful about the future. “We have made tremendous progress from a situation of ravaging conflict, deadlock, autocracy, and daily killings, to a rather vibrant transition, with all its attendant complications of occasional ups and downs,” he said.
Nepali foreign minister Sujata Koirala was originally scheduled to address the crowd—but instead opted for lunch with Hillary Clinton.
Following the speech, a broad group of sudents grilled the prime minister.
One asked about the immediate steps taken to the Maoists in the country since the peace agreement. Nepal replied, “we must give space to them for them to see the future.”
Another student called the prime minister to task for preaching about democracy while, the student thought, faking it.
Since it has been reported that not all of the votes counted in the recent election, the student wondered, “What kind of constitution is it where people’s voices and views don’t matter?”
“All views have been analyzed,” the prime minister replied.
He made sure to add that the Nepalese government has “not undermined the view of the people.”
(Courtesy: Columbia Spectator)
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