An Ideally Assertive Editor

Gokul Prasad Pokhrel, who passed away on January 1st, was chief editor of the Gorakhapatra daily when Nepal was preparing for its first (and till date last) referendum which was to decide the political system suited for the country—by retaining existing partyless Panchayat system ‘with suitable reforms’, or opting for a multiparty structure similar to the ones practiced in India and the United Kingdom. King Birendra had announced the referendum, responding to the student agitation witnessed in early months of 1979. It was around that time I was recruited as a sub-editor for the Nepali language daily. And Pokhrel was the first editor I met. Bharat Koirala, Gorakhapatra Sansthan’s chairman-cum-general manager, also introduced me to the Rising Nepal editor, Mana Ranjan Josse (MRJ).