Bidya Devi Bhandari is a Nepali politician. In 2015, she made headlines when she was elected as the second president of Nepal. Since then, she has become the first woman to serve as president of Nepal. Previously, she served as Minister of Defense, Minister of Environment and Population, Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), and President of the All Nepal Women’s Association. Bidya Devi Bhandari served as Nepal’s Defense Minister from 2009 to 2011. In 1997, he became Minister of Environment and Population.
Wiki/Biography
Bidya Devi Bhandari was born on Tuesday, June 19, 1961, in Mane Bhanjyang, Bhojpur, Kingdom of Nepal (now Mane Bhanjyang, Ramprasadrai RM, Bhojpur, Province 1, Republic of Nepal, Ramprasadrai RM) was born on Tuesday, June 19, 1961 (age 61; as of 2022) in Bidya Pandey (age 61; as of 2022) Nepal). Her zodiac sign is Gemini. She completed her primary education at Behereshwar Primary School in Nepal. In 1979, she obtained her SLC (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) from Bidhiodaya Vocational High School in Nepal. In 1980, she received a bachelor’s degree in humanities from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. According to Bidya Devi Bhandari, she was the first in her family to complete the entrance exam. In a media interview, she revealed that her grandfather encouraged her parents to educate her. she says,
I happen to be a role model for women in my village, which motivates other parents to send their daughters to school. “
Her grandfather and uncle reportedly began teaching her political skills when she was seven years old. Her grandfather and uncle were members of Nepal Students Union and ANNFSU. Once, in a conversation with a media outlet, she recalled that as a child she used to feel very sorry for the poor and often wished that this inequality would be eradicated in the country. she told,
I feel very sad when I see people begging for money, medicine or old clothes to wear. I want to know why they are so poor and what causes this inequality. “
Bidya Devi Bhandari joined the Coordination Committee (established in 1975) when she was in eighth grade. Soon after joining the committee, the committee director assigned her the responsibility of distributing party pamphlets in the villages to warn local landowners.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′4″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Bidya Devi’s grandfather’s name was Tilak Bahadur Pandey. Her grandfather was a social worker and the village Pradhan Pancha. Her father’s name is Ram Bahadur Pandey, who is the principal of a local high school in Nepal. Her mother’s name is Mithila Pandey. She has two brothers, one of whom’s name is Degendra Pandey.
Her cousin Gyanendra Bahadur Karki is a famous Nepali politician.
husband and children
In 1982, Bidya Devi Bhandari married Madan Bhandari, a famous Nepali politician. Bidya Devi and Madan Bhandari met twice before getting married, once in 1979 and again in 1980 in Bhojpur when they were attending a political party meeting.
Madan Bhandari died in a road accident on May 16, 1993, while traveling with three companions from Pokhran to Chitwan to attend a party meeting. According to some media sources, his car mysteriously crashed into the Trishuli river, killing all the passengers; however, the car driver (Amar Lama) managed to save himself. Three days after the accident, police found Madan Bhandari’s body on the banks of the Narayani River. Ten years after the accident, the driver was mysteriously murdered. This incident caused conspiracy theories to spring up in Nepal at that time.
Once, Bidya Devi Bhandari revealed in a media interview that Madan Bhandari’s personality, political ideology and leadership skills impressed her so much that she convinced her to marry Got him. She further added in the same discussion that it was not a love at first sight thing. she told,
It’s not love at first sight. I was nervous standing in front of him. I was moved by his sensitivity and ability to address a variety of issues in depth. I was sure he was a special man, but I had no idea that he would one day obtain the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist). “
The couple has two daughters named Usha Kiran Bhandari and Nisha Kusum Bhandari. According to some media sources, one of her daughters is a doctor and the other is a party worker of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).
caste
Bidya Devi Bhandari belongs to the Brahmin community.
Profession
Bidya Devi Bhandari joined politics in 1978 when she started working as an activist with the Youth League of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) in Bhojpur. In 1979, he started working in the Eastern District Committee of Anbei Normal University and served as the director until 1987.
Bidya Devi Bhandari started serving as a member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) in 1980. She was elected as the student union leader while studying at Mahendra Morang Adarsha Integrated Campus. In 1993, she started working in the women’s branch of GEFONT, serving as president. In 1997, she began to serve as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist). Shortly after her husband’s death, Bidya Devi Bhandari was appointed as the sitting MP for Kathmandu District 1 in by-elections in January 1994, in which she defeated her opponents, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, former Prime Minister of Nepal. In the same year, she defeated her opponent, Speaker of the House of Representatives Daman Nath Duggana, in the general election for Kathmandu’s second constituency. Thereafter, Bidya Devi Bhandari was appointed as the Minister of Environment and Population of Nepal.
In 1999, Bidya Devi Bhandari ran again in the general election for the second constituency of Kathmandu and won. She ran for the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections but lost. However, she was appointed Defense Minister in Nepal’s Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal’s cabinet, following the party’s proportional electoral system. The same procedure was followed in the 2013 elections, when she was re-elected through a proportional electoral system. Later, Bidya Devi Bhandari was re-elected as Vice Chairman at the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) held in Butwal. During this period, she came into limelight as a confidante of party president and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
On October 28, 2015, the Nepalese Parliament held indirect elections, and Bidya Devi Bhandari was elected as the President of Nepal. She won the election, defeating Nepali Congress leader Kul Bahadur Gurung, who polled 214 votes, and Bidya Bhandari, who polled 327 votes. vote. She became the first woman to serve as president of the state. In 2018, Bidya Devi Bhandari was reappointed as the President of Nepal, defeating her opponent, Congress leader Kumari Lakshmi Rai, in these elections.
dispute
- Political Partisanship: Since Bidya Devi Bhandari was elected as Nepal’s president, some members of Nepal’s opposition parties have often accused her of abusing her power. In 2017, she was accused of delaying the formation of a government shortly after the completion of the 2017 legislative elections. She was criticized for insisting on congressional election regulations.
- Women’s Rights: Bidya Devi Bhandari submitted the controversial Property Bill to the Nepali Parliament in 2016 and won the support of many women members of the Nepali Parliament. Through this bill, she fought for women’s rights to parental property. She stated in the bill,
Through this bill, for the first time in Nepali history, women gained the right to inherit their parents’ property and the right to issue citizenship to their children in the name of their mother. “
- In 2021, Nepal’s Supreme Court rejected the citizenship decree proposed by the KP Sharma Oli-led government. However, the decree was approved by Bidya Devi Bhandari. Later, when the majority party and the Deuba cabinet approved the ordinance, she denied approving it.
- Dissolution of Parliament House: In 2021, Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives in violation of Nepal’s constitution. She was therefore accused of abusing her power in approving cabinet decisions. Sher Bahadur Deuba received majority votes of the member assembly, which collectively signed on to appoint him as Prime Minister of Nepal; however, Bidya Bhandari did not agree to appoint him as Prime Minister of Nepal Prime Minister of Nepal and began to support the government led by KP Sharma Oli by dissolving the Parliament. A majority of the 146-member parliament later challenged her decision in Nepal’s Supreme Court.
- On July 12, 2021, the Supreme Court of Nepal declared her decision to dissolve Parliament illegal and stated in the judgment that Deuba will be appointed as the next prime minister in accordance with Article 76, Section 5, of the Nepalese Constitution. Minister of Nepal. The Supreme Court also accused Bhandari of taking measures that violated Nepal’s constitution. On July 13, 2021, Bidya Devi Bhandari appointed Deuba as the Prime Minister of Nepal. She reportedly did not follow any court rules or constitutional provisions in appointing Deuba as Nepal’s prime minister, and many opposition leaders accused her of forgetting her boundaries. Eventually, Deuba became the Prime Minister of Nepal after several pauses.
Facts/Trivia
- In 2016, a world-renowned magazine ranked Bidya Devi Bhandari 52nd on the list of the 100 most influential women in the world.
- In June 2017, Bidya Bhandari met with Danish economist and environmentalist Inger Andersen at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, to discuss nature conservation and sustainability in Nepal. issues related to sustainable development and have conducted some cooperation on this.
- Bidya Bhandari is an ardent environmentalist and often organizes many environmental awareness events in Nepal. She frequently works on women’s rights issues in Nepal.
- According to reports, Bidya Devi Bhandari’s political mentor was United Marxist-Leninist leader KP Oli, who taught her political skills when she was in politics. KP Oli is known for being the strongest Prime Minister of Nepal during his tenure. Bidya Devi Bhandari said that she was advised by KP Oli on every political matter. He helped appoint her as Nepal’s defense minister in Madhav Nepal’s government in 2009 and as president in 2015.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education