Kathmandu, June 23 -- For Gokul Baskota, the last twelve months have been particularly busy. Since taking the helm of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, which had been without a leader for several months before his appointment last June, Baskota has eagerly placed himself at the centre of a nonstop media storm, defending every controversial bill the government has tabled or passed-from the Medical Education Bill to the Media Council Bill and the Guthi Bill.

Last week, he made headlines again, this time for referring to guthis as "lingering remnants of feudalism" during the weekly press conference on June 13. He strongly denied making such a statement in Parliament on Friday.

But Baskota wasn't always the way he ha...