Ram Chandra Poudel is a Nepali politician and the third president of Nepal. He was elected to Parliament six times and served as Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, Chairman of the Nepali Congress and Speaker of the Pratinidhi Sabha, the lower house of the Nepali Parliament. He has been detained for over 15 years for his involvement in different movements in Nepali politics.
Wiki/Biography
Ram Chandra Poudel was born on Saturday, October 14, 1944, in Satishwara village, Bahunpokari, Tanahun district, Nepal (age 78; as of 2022). His zodiac sign is Libra. He entered politics at the age of sixteen, protesting against the dissolution of Parliament and the dissolution of the late BP Koirala government. In 1967, he completed his BA in Sanskrit Literature from Tribhuvan University. In 1970, he completed a master’s degree in Nepali literature from Tribhuvan University and took the examination while in jail for protesting against the Panchayat system.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′8″
Weight (approximately): 65kg
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye color: black
family
He was born into a middle-class family.
Parents and siblings
His father’s name is Durga Prasad Poudel and mother’s name is Rishi Maya Poudel. His father is a farmer and a supporter of the Nepali Congress Party. He has four sisters.
wife and children
His wife’s name is Savita Paudel. They have four daughters named Sharmila, Sanya, Anuya and Avaya, and a son named Jintan.
Ram Chandra Poudel’s family portrait
sign
Profession
politics
student politics
In 1960, King Mahendra of Nepal imprisoned the late Congress leader and Prime Minister of Nepal BP Koirala, and entered politics at the age of 16. In 1961, he actively participated in the armed uprising movement to recover Bharatpur and Chitwan and restore democracy. He launched the Free Students Movement in 1962 and was elected president of the Saraswati College Students’ Union in 1966. In the same year, he formed the Gandaki Student Council and was elected president. In 1967, he was elected general secretary of the Democratic Socialist Youth League. He played an important role in the establishment of the Nepal Students’ Union in 1970 and was elected as a senior member of the Union’s committee.
electoral politics
In 1977, he was elected as a member of the Thanakhun District Committee of the Nepali Congress Party and in 1979, he was appointed as the Vice Chairman. In 1980, he was elected chairman of the Tanahun District Multi-Party Campaign Committee. In 1983, he became the coordinator of the Central Publicity Committee of the Nepali Congress Party. He later served as a member of the Central Committee of the Nepali Congress, and in 1987 he was appointed as the Director of the Central Propaganda Bureau of the Nepali Congress Party.
Ram Chandra Poudel (third from right) in the 1980s
In the 1991 general election, he ran from Tanahun 1st constituency and defeated the candidate of the Communist Party of Nepal (United People’s Front) by a wide margin and became a member of parliament. On May 29, 1991, he was appointed Minister of Local Development and Agriculture and served as Minister until 1994. In the 1994 general election, he ran for the second constituency of Tanahun and became a member of Congress after defeating the candidate. Communist Party of Nepal (United People’s Front). On December 18, 1994, he was appointed Speaker of the House of Commons, serving until March 23, 1999. In the 1999 general election, he was re-elected from Tanahun 2nd District and was appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives. From 1999 to 2002, he served as Deputy Prime Minister and concurrently as Minister of Family and Communications. In 2006, he was elected as the Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Nepali Congress and in 2008, he became the Vice-President of the Nepali Congress Party. In 2006, he became Coordinator of the Peace Secretariat and played a key role in streamlining the peace process, a position he held until 2007. In 2007, he was appointed Minister of Peace and Reconstruction, serving until 2008. He was elected from Tanahun 2nd Constituency in the 2009 Constituent Assembly elections and defeated the Congress leader on June 20, 2009. Former Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba. In 2009, he became the vice-president of the Nepali Congress Party and served as the party’s president after the death of Sushil Koirala. In 2010, he contested the parliamentary elections for the Nepali Congress along with Pushpa Kamal Dahal from the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist and Jala Nath Khanal from the United Marxist-Leninist. The position of Prime Minister. However, he failed to secure victory and lost to Jhala Nath Khanal in the 17th round of voting. He was re-elected from Tanahun 2nd District in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections. In the 2017 assembly elections, he contested from Tanahun 1 constituency and lost to Krishna Kumar Shrestha of the communist alliance. In November 2022, he was elected as a member of the House of Commons from Tanahun 1st District.
Ram Chandra Poudel campaigning during 2022 elections
president of nepal
On March 9, 2023, he defeated Subash Chandra Nembang and became the third president of Nepal at the age of 78. He received 214 votes out of 332 parliamentary votes and 352 votes out of 550 provincial votes cast in seven provinces. Bidya Devi Bhandari preceded him.
After Ram Chandra Poudel wins the 2023 presidential election
writer
Ram Chandra Poudel wrote many articles and books on political and social issues. His articles have appeared in many major newspapers. His books include “What the Nepali Congress Says” in 1976, “Democratic Socialism – A Study” in 1990, “Abhisapta Etihas” in 2004 and “Agricultural Revolution and Socialism” in 2013. His literary works have won many awards.
jail time
It is estimated that he was jailed for more than 15 years for protesting against the political system and panchayat system imposed by the king. In 1962, he was jailed for 10 months for the Nepali Congress’s seizure of Bharatpur. In 1964, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for the Kathmandu student movement. In 1966, he was jailed for six months for his role in the campaign to oust the then Deputy Inspector General of Police. He was imprisoned for 14 months in 1967 for organizing the activities of the Democratic Socialist Youth League (DSYL) in Pokhara, and again in Kathmandu for 12 months in 1969 for organizing DSYL activities in western Nepal. In 1970, he was sentenced to three months in prison for establishing the Nepali Students’ Union in Kathmandu. In 1971, after the late BP Koirala was released from prison, he was jailed for 4 years for his active political activities. In 1977, he was imprisoned for 10 months for participating in the Patan meeting of the Nepali Congress, which decided to launch a civil disobedience movement to free the late BP Koirala and restore democracy. In 1979, he was imprisoned for six months for leading a referendum campaign to choose multi-party democracy or a non-party parliamentary system. In 1981, he was imprisoned for six months for boycotting Panchayat elections. In 1985, he was sentenced to nine months in prison for participating in civil disobedience. In 1988, he was jailed for violating the Publication Act of the Panchayat Constitution and writing an article about the Nepali Congress. In 1989, he was sentenced to five months in prison for organizing and inciting to participate in the movement to restore democracy. In 2003, former King Gyanendra Bikram Shah, who came to power after a 2001 palace massacre, was jailed for a year and a half.
dispute
Organization UML split in 1998
In 1998, KP Sharma Oli, former Prime Minister of Nepal and Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), accused Ram Chandra Podel of causing the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) (CPN) to – UML) split. In early 1998, RK Mainali, CP Mainali and Bam Dev Gautam along with many leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist-Leninist formed a new political party and named it Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist-Leninist (CPN-ML).
Support Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021 Congress
He was accused of supporting Sher Bahadur Deuba as party president after he found he could no longer serve as president and withdrew his support for the rebel candidate. He allegedly struck a deal with Deuba in exchange for supporting Poudel’s aspirations as Nepal’s president.
Awards and Honors
- In 1987, he received the Mahendra Bikram Shah Award for his article entitled “Human Rights Situation in Nepal”
- In 2020, Japan awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun with the Grand Ribbon in recognition of his contribution to strengthening relations between Nepal and Japan.
Facts/Trivia
- Congress workers affectionately call him Ram Chandra Dai.
- He has been involved in every movement in Nepal since 1960.
- After Koirala returned to Nepal from India, he collaborated extensively with former Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education