Tulsi Giri Prime Minister of Nepal

[Guest Kurt]

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Nepalese Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers Tulsi Giri (R) gestures as he speaks with with India's Minister of State for External Affairs, Rao Inderjit Singh during a meeting in Kathmandu, 21 July 2005. Singh, on a three-day visit to Nepal is scheduled to to hold consultation talks with the government of King Gyanendra on reforms to the Himalayan Kingdom proposed by the United Nations. UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said 16 July, that the Maoist crisis in Nepal was dire and called on the rebels and the government to do everything possible to find an urgent solution to restore peace.

The Story of dr. Giri. 
Tulsi Giri, born in 1928, was an important part of Nepal politics from around 1950. 

Giri started as a part of the Nepal Congress Party, and was a veteran from the revolusion in 1950 to 1951 and a member of BP Koirala. He was a part of the Koirala government from 1959, but retired in August 1960.

After king Mahendra's coup de’état in december 1960, Giri became the first prime-minister under the dictatorship, and a leading politician in the so-called Panchayat-democracy, which was the official name of the dictatur of king Mahendra starting in 1962.

Tulsi Giri was Prime Minister in Nepal three times: From 26. december 1960 to 23. december 1963, from 26. February 1964 to 26. January 1965 and from 1. december 1975 to 12. september 1977.

After he retired from politics in 1991, he moved to Sri Lanka where he came in contact with the truth and got baptized. Some years later he moved to India, and he also joined the Bethel Family in India after some time.

While John and I arrived Nepal at the end of January 2005, Tulsi Giri, aged 78, was invited to a marriage celebration in Nepal. 

Shortly after the introduction of the personal dictatur of king Gyanendra (1. februar 2005) the king invited Tulsi Giri to his residence, (the king was of course informed of the fact that Giri at the moment was visiting Nepal) and offered him to choose between several central positions in the government, at which brother Giri politely rejected, since his political involvement had ended long time ago. But, as brother Giri put it, he might be willing to “give the king some practical advice”.

Only two days later, the national radio and TV broadcast stated that king Gyanendra had made dr. Tulsi Giri his “chairman of ministers of council”, and given him the rank above everybody exept the king himself. Thus it looked like king Gyanendra wanted to recreate a new edition of the Panchayat-systemet, since Giri still was counted as the kings house’s extreme conservative adviser.

Our brother Tulsi Giri was of course incredibly concerned because of the way his situation had turned, at he against his will had been reinstated in a major political position. But one thing was for sure: it was impossible for brother Giri to escape this situation, because of the suvereign power of King Gyanendra. Only a few days before John and me arrived Kathmandu, brother Giri visited brother Pradhan in his home to discuss this intricate matter. Furthermore, both the Bethel in India and in Japan had been asked for advice. 

Brother Pradhan also mentined that Jehovahs Witnesses in Nepal for some time had experienced problems related to the import of Biblical litterature. A lot of litterature was stuck at the Kathmandu airport, and the police rejected releasing it. So what had happened with brother Giri was perhaps Jehovahs way to solve the litterature import situation. Furthermore, brother Pradhan told me that he also was familiar with other brothers in modern times, trapped in similar conditions. As an example, he referred to a brother in Tobago who recently was installed as the 'commissionar of Tobago'.

In any case, our brother Tulsi Giri was stuck in a relly difficult situation. And what’s more:

After king Gyanendra’s dictatorship was brought to an end 27. april 2006, brother Giri is put on a list of government politicians not to leave Nepal in the event of a futural court decision. 

Wikipedia

Tulsi Giri (Nepali: तुलसी गिरि born 26 September 1926) was the Prime Minister of Nepal^[1] from 1975 to 1977, and chairman of the Council of Ministers (a de facto Prime Ministerial position) between 1960 and 1963, and again in 1964 and 1965. He was born in Siraha District, Nepal in 1926.^[2]

Tulsi was also a Minister in the Congress government of 1959-1960, before its dissolution by King Mahendra. He was the first prime-minister under the dictatorship.^[3] He studied at the Suri Vidyasagar College, when it was affiliated with the University of Calcutta.^[4] He received his medical degree but politics soon became his life.^[5]

Tulsi has had numerous wives and children and is currently married to Sarah Giri, Sarah is a deaf-rights advocate. As of 2013 they have been married 34 years.^[6]

As an adult Tulsi was baptized to this wife's faith, becoming one of Jehovah's Witnesses. He resigned as chairman Rastriya Panchayat in 1986 and moved to Sri Lanka^[7] where he stayed for two years and then finally settled in Bangalore, India till 2005.