Matrika Prasad Koirala ( ; 1 January 1912 – 11 September 1997) was the Prime Minister of Nepal for two terms from 16 November 1951 to 14 August 1952 and again from 15 June 1953 to 11 April 1955. Personal life Koirala was born to Krishna Prasad Koirala and his first wife Mohan Kumari Koirala in 1912 in Varanasi, British Raj. His brothers were Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala, who also served as the Prime Minister of Nepal, and politician and journalist Tarini Prasad Koirala. Political career Matrika Prasad Koirala (M.P.) was an outstanding personality of Nepal, who dominated Nepali politics for a full eight years from 1947 to 1955. During the first four years he was supreme leader of the anti-Rana movement, and during the last four years he was the Prime Minister. His first four years were a story of success, whereas his last four years were a record of failure, though he was a powerful head of the government and enjoyed the confidence of the King throughout most of those years. He led the successful anti-Rana movement as its supreme commander, but his activities as Prime Minister were controversial and a sign of failure. After 1955, his political career virtually ended, though King Mahendra nominated him as a member of the upper house of parliament in 1959, only to encounter the absolute majority of Nepali Congress. In the 1980s M.P. once again tried to come back in politics through election to the national legislature but he did not succeed. M.P. died in 1997, but now he is with us through his memoir entitled A Role in a Revolution. I myself (along with some of my friends in the History Department at Tribhuvan University) was fortunate enough to have carried out a tape-recorded interview with M.P. for the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS) in the 1980s. This interview covered some crucial issues which he faced and tackled during the anti-Rana movement and during his tenure of office as a Prime Minister. While taking his interview, we were quite impressed by his sharp memory as when he narrated the story of his father's activities, and also described his own role during the anti-Rana movement and as Prime Minister. We requested him to write a memoir to provide first-hand information about this crucial period of the history of Nepal from 1947 to 1955. He smiled and