ID :
10459
Sat, 06/21/2008 - 09:26
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/10459
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Hitler's car was taken to India, not in palace: report
Shirish B. Pradhan
Kathmandu, June 21 (PTI) - A Mercedes purportedly gifted by
Adolf Hitler to ousted King Gyanendra's grandfather is not in
Narayanhiti place as claimed by Nepal officials but was taken
to India in 1943, a former Rana prime minister's daughter has
claimed, sparking a fresh controversy over royal assets.
The German dictator had donated olive-green Daimler-Benz
not to King Tribhuvan, the titular head, but to Rana dynasty
Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Rana in 1939 to win the Gorkha
soldiers to his side during the World War II, according to
Juddha Shumsher's only surviving daughter Janak Rajya Laxmi
Shah, 92.
Officials deputed by the government to acquire the royal
assets in the palace, which was declared a museum following
the ouster of Gyanendra, had earlier claimed that they had
found the car gifted by Hitler to Tribhuvan, Gyanendra's
grandfather, and it will be put on display.
Shah said that her father Juddha Shsumsher, who was the
seventh Rana Prime Minister, left to settle in Dehradun, India
after ruling for 13 years in 1945 and took the car with him.
"He (Juddha) took the Daimler-Benz along with him,"
Shah told the 'Kathmandu Post' daily, adding she inherited the
car after the death of her father and mother in 1952-1954.
Hitler had probably donated the car to Nepal thinking
that it would not take side of Britain and France that waged
war against Germany during the World War II after it invaded
Poland, according to the daily.
Nepal's history has been marred by a power struggle
between the kings of Shah dynasty and its Rana prime ministers
who ruled through generations. Tribhuvan had to flee to India
with his son Mahendra and grandson Birendra in November 1950
following a power struggle with the then prime inister Mohan
shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana.
Shah claimed she is still the owner of the car as she
has not transferred the ownership to anybody else.
"When I decided to return to Nepal in 1966 I left the
car to my brother Sashi Shumsher Rana," said Shah, a D.A.V.
College law graduate.
She said she used the car while studying and living in
Dehradun for 17 years.
She claims that it was the first car to enter Nepal as
there was no motorable road at that time. The car was brought
to Kathmandu via India on the back of porters, she said.
Gyanedra, who lost his throne last month and was forced
to vacate the palace, is at the centre of another controversy
over cars with the government asking him and his son Paras to
return eight vehicles.
Gyanendra has four extra vehicles besides one car and
one jeep that the government has provided to him while moving
out of the Narayanhiti Palace.
Similarly, his son Paras has allegedly taken possession
of four government cars and a few laptops brought from the
Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation, of which he was the
president in the past. PTI
Kathmandu, June 21 (PTI) - A Mercedes purportedly gifted by
Adolf Hitler to ousted King Gyanendra's grandfather is not in
Narayanhiti place as claimed by Nepal officials but was taken
to India in 1943, a former Rana prime minister's daughter has
claimed, sparking a fresh controversy over royal assets.
The German dictator had donated olive-green Daimler-Benz
not to King Tribhuvan, the titular head, but to Rana dynasty
Prime Minister Juddha Shumsher Rana in 1939 to win the Gorkha
soldiers to his side during the World War II, according to
Juddha Shumsher's only surviving daughter Janak Rajya Laxmi
Shah, 92.
Officials deputed by the government to acquire the royal
assets in the palace, which was declared a museum following
the ouster of Gyanendra, had earlier claimed that they had
found the car gifted by Hitler to Tribhuvan, Gyanendra's
grandfather, and it will be put on display.
Shah said that her father Juddha Shsumsher, who was the
seventh Rana Prime Minister, left to settle in Dehradun, India
after ruling for 13 years in 1945 and took the car with him.
"He (Juddha) took the Daimler-Benz along with him,"
Shah told the 'Kathmandu Post' daily, adding she inherited the
car after the death of her father and mother in 1952-1954.
Hitler had probably donated the car to Nepal thinking
that it would not take side of Britain and France that waged
war against Germany during the World War II after it invaded
Poland, according to the daily.
Nepal's history has been marred by a power struggle
between the kings of Shah dynasty and its Rana prime ministers
who ruled through generations. Tribhuvan had to flee to India
with his son Mahendra and grandson Birendra in November 1950
following a power struggle with the then prime inister Mohan
shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana.
Shah claimed she is still the owner of the car as she
has not transferred the ownership to anybody else.
"When I decided to return to Nepal in 1966 I left the
car to my brother Sashi Shumsher Rana," said Shah, a D.A.V.
College law graduate.
She said she used the car while studying and living in
Dehradun for 17 years.
She claims that it was the first car to enter Nepal as
there was no motorable road at that time. The car was brought
to Kathmandu via India on the back of porters, she said.
Gyanedra, who lost his throne last month and was forced
to vacate the palace, is at the centre of another controversy
over cars with the government asking him and his son Paras to
return eight vehicles.
Gyanendra has four extra vehicles besides one car and
one jeep that the government has provided to him while moving
out of the Narayanhiti Palace.
Similarly, his son Paras has allegedly taken possession
of four government cars and a few laptops brought from the
Nepal Trust for Nature Conservation, of which he was the
president in the past. PTI
