Bhadrakali Mishra (; 6 February 1920 – 1 June 2006) was a Nepali politician. In a political career lasting more than 50 years, several of which he spent in exile, he held numerous ministerial portfolios and was also the Chairman of King Birendra's Raj Parishad Standing Committee (the Royal Privy Council of King Birendra) after the establishment of multi-party democracy in 1990.
He also took part in the freedom movement of India, following the non-violent forms of protest advocated by Gandhi. After the partition of India, Bhadrakali Mishra served as a personal assistant to Gandhi, travelled with him and also spent some time at his ashram.
He was first appointed a Nepali minister in 1951 when King Tribhuvan abolished the system of hereditary Prime Ministers from the Rana family and established democracy in Nepal. In the 1950s, Mishra held ministerial portfolios of Communications, Public Works, Transport, and Law and Parliamentary Affairs.
Bhadrakali Mishra went into exile in 1960 when King Mahendra, son of King Tribhuvan banned all forms of political activities and imposed a party-less panchayat system. While in exile, Mishra with his family lived in Patna, Bihar, India and served as the General-Secretary-in-exile of the Nepali Congress as all political activities were banned in Nepal.
He returned to Nepal in 1990 following the success of the first Jana Aandolan (People's Movement) and the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990. He was subsequently appointed the Chairman of the first Raj Parishad Standing Committee (the Royal Privy Council) by King Birendra.
Mishra died in June 2006 in Ranchi, Jharkhand state, India due to old age and failing health.
Biography
Early life
Bhadrakali Mishra was born on 6 February 1920 to Dwarika Parshad Mishra () and Ram Ratan Kuwari () in the village of Pipra in Mahottari District, located in the southern plains of Nepal.
Owing to the absence of schools in his native district, he underwent early education at a local school in Sitamarhi, Bihar, India. Either during his final years of school or shortly thereafter, he was married to the daughter of Bishwanath Prasad Mishra, a renowned criminal lawyer from Chhapra, India. After his school studies, Bhadrakali Mishra enrolled at the law school at University of Allahabad.
1940–1949
While at the University, Bhadrakali Mishra became active in student politics, following the non-violent forms of protest advocated by Gandhi. He became an active member of the Indian National Congress and took part in numerous protests against the British Regime.
On 9 August 1942, during one such protest in Patna, Bhadrakali Mishra was arrested and imprisoned at the Bankipur Jail along with senior leaders such as Dr. Rajendra Prasad, who incidentally was a close friend of his father-in-law. From Bankipur Jail, Mishra was transferred to Hazaribagh Central Prison.
After his release from prison in 1945, Mishra resumed his studies and remained active in the freedom movement. He graduated with a degree in law (Bachelors of Law) from the University of Allahabad, and then went on to complete his post-graduate degree in English literature from Patna University.
In 1948, Bhadrakali Mishra served as a personal assistant to Gandhi and travelled with him on visit to a number of villages in Bihar that were affected by the communal violence erupting after the partition of India. Mishra also spent some time with Gandhi at his ashram.
1950–1960
Sometime in 1948 or 1949, Bhadrakali Mishra returned to Nepal and in 1950, established Lok Sewak Sangh along Gandhian lines (translation: Association of the Servants of the People) in Janakpurdham. The Sangh organised prayer meetings, cleaned temples and other public places, and worked to provide relief to people affected by natural disasters, such as fires. The organisation was also successful in raising the general level of awareness of the local population in Mahottari.
In April or May 1950, while organising a relief programme for victims of the fire, Bhadrakali Mishra, along with his cousin Ram Narayan Mishra and other Sangh workers were arrested and imprisoned. This incident sparked protests which far-flung and ill-staffed police posts could not contain and the local administration capitulated and released those who were arrested, including Mishra. After his release, Bhadrakali Mishra moved to Kathmandu.
Bhadrakali Mishra's arrival in Kathmandu coincided with the popular movement against the Rana regime, a system hereditary Prime Ministers hailing from the Rana dynasty, that had reduced the ruling Shah monarchy to nominal figureheads and consolidated all powers within the office of the Prime Minister. A number of factors that included Mishra's closeness to the prominent leaders of the Indian Freedom Struggle, an Indian ambassador who knew of his history with the struggle, King Tribhuvan's strong inclination and belief in democracy, and Mishra's presence in Kathmandu propelled him to a central position and a key figure in the movement.
Meanwhile, as the movement against the Rana grew in strength, relations between BP Koirala, brother of Matrika Prasad Koirala—who would become the first Prime Minister of Nepal after the overthrow of the Ranas, and Mishra started to strain. In his autobiography, Atmabrittanta, BP Koirala wrote of his disagreements with Bhadrakali Mishra due to the latter's opposition to Nepali Congress starting an armed struggle for overthrowing the Rana Regime. Koirala added that Mishra continuously insisted that the struggle should fully be along Gandhian lines, including at formal party meetings.
Tensions between the Ranas and the King grew and peaked in early November 1950 that ultimately led to the King seeking refuge at the Indian Embassy. On the morning of 10 November, two Indian aircraft arrived in Kathmandu and the royal family, along with the Indian Ambassador and Bhadrakali Mishra left for the Indian capital Delhi where they were received with full honours by President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Commander-in-Chief General Cariappa. The King, assisted by Mishra and other close confidants, held a number of meetings with very senior and influential people and garnered overwhelming support for his efforts to establish democracy in Nepal.
With full support of the Indian political and military leadership, and absolute popular support back home for democracy in Nepal, King Tribhuvan returned to the country. Shortly thereafter, on 18 February 1951, he proclaimed an end to the Rana dynasty and announced the establishment of democracy in Nepal. For the transition, the King appointed a joint Rana-Congress cabinet, headed by Mohan Shumsher. Bhadrakali Mishra, representing the Nepali Congress was allocated the portfolio the Minister of Transport; the new cabinet, including Mishra, were sworn in the same day.
As the Minister of Transport, Mishra played a key role in the response and relief work following massive floods in the Terai region in 1951, personally visiting the affected districts and overseeing rescue efforts and disbursement of relief material and cash. He also met with senior political leaders to secure their cooperation with government agencies for relief operations irrespective of political differences.
He also undertook official trips to China, India and East Pakistan (now: Bangladesh) to explore avenues of strengthening Nepal's connectivity with its neighbours.
In the meantime, relations between BP Koirala and Bhadrakali Mishra did not warm considerably. In a defining moment at the party's Fifth General Convention in Janakpur in 1952, where Koirala was campaigning strongly for being elected the party's President as well as posturing himself as the next prime minister, Mishra spoke out very strongly and critically against Koirala's proposal and stressed that the same person should not be both the Prime Minister and the chief of a political party. Tensions overflow and culminated in Mishra, along with some other leaders of the Nepali Congress walking out of the meeting venue, boycotting the Convention and announcing a new political party, called the Terai Congress.
Historians believe that despite the differences Koirala maintained a "deep respect" for Mishra. Behind the scenes, many senior leaders worked to reconcile the differences between the two. These efforts ultimately led to the reunification of Terai Congress and Nepali Congress a few years later.
In subsequent years, Mishra was re-inducted in the cabinet and held numerous ministerial portfolios. But the differences between him and Koirala continued to surface time and again. The differences resulted in Mishra writing notes of dissent to many decisions taken by Koirala as the President of Nepali Congress and ultimately led to Mishra leaving the party again and also subsequently resigning from the Cabinet.
Following differences with the Nepali Congress, Bhadrakali Mishra and Tanka Prasad Acharya split from the party and reactivated the Nepal Praja Parishad (translation: Nepal People's Council) that was established circa 1945 against the Rana regime. However, in 1959, Tanka Prasad and Bhadrakali contested the elections separately, as duly recognised as national parties by the Election Commission of Nepal. Bhadrakali Mishra's party, Nepal Praja Parishad (Mishra fraction), contesting 36 seats won 1 while the Acharya faction, contesting 46, won 2.
1960–1990
In December 1960, King Mahendra proclaimed all executive powers in the country and banned all forms of political activities. Following this "coup", the administration swiftly arrested a huge number of political leaders who would to be "tried for treason and receive due punishments." To escape arrest and imprisonment, Bhadrakali Mishra, along with his family fled Nepal and went to India.
Following the developments back home, Nepali political leaders in exile in India started to raise attention to the situation in Nepal and started gathering together. On 25 January 1961, the Nepali Congress, then in exile, held a general convention in Patna, Bihar and Subarna Shamsher, its senior leader, formally announced a struggle against the autocratic King and his regime. The convention also elected Rana as the President of Nepali Congress-in exile. About a month later, on 26 February 1961, Bhadrakali Mishra formally merged his own party, the Nepal Praja Praishad with the Nepali Congress. Shortly thereafter, he was also appointed the General Secretary of the Nepali Congress. Other political parties, such as Samyukta Prajatantra Party, Nationalist Gorkha Parishad, Gorkha Parishad, Nepal Terai Congress, and Terai Congress also merged with the Nepali Congress in due course.
Mishra undertook a number of activities to protest the situation in Nepal. In one such protest, held in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Mishra spoke about the role of media that had also sided with the King. His statements were suppressed by media in Nepal but Indian media widely reported on the subject, resulting in further highlighting of the situation in Nepal in both national and regional press and radio. In the years that followed, Mishra gave a number of interviews and wrote a number of opinion pieces in major Indian newspapers on political repression and curtailment of civil rights in Nepal.