The Communist Party of Nepal (Pushpa Lal) was a communist splinter group led by Pushpa Lal Shrestha. The party emerged in 1968, as Pushpa Lal organized a separate party congress in

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dis ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

History

After the 1962 convention of the radical communist sector, which constituted the separate

Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal ( ne, नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी), abbreviated CPN, was a communist party in Nepal from 1949 to 1962. It was founded on 15 September 1949 to struggle against the autocratic Rana ...

, Pushpa Lal was supposed to have shared the leadership of the party together with

Tulsi Lal Amatya Tulsi Lal Amatya (; May 1916 – August 1997) was a Nepalese politician. Biography Amatya was born in May 1916 in Lalitpur, Nepal to Riddhinarsimha Malla Amatya and Yog Maya Awnatya. In 1962, he served as the general secretary of the Commu ...

. However, the cooperation between the two had broken down, and a large section of the party cadres followed Pushpa Lal in forming a new party. For a few years, Pushpa Lal's party was the major communist group in Nepal. The party was politically close to the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

(CPI(M). Pushpa Lal's party upheld the line of people's democracy.Parajulee, Ramjee P. ''The Democratic Transition in Nepal''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. p. 57 The organ of Pushpa Lal's party was ''Naya Janvad'' and the party headquarters were established in

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

. Pushpa Lal called for unity in action together with the

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ne, नेपाली कांग्रेस ; abbr. NC) is the largest social democratic political party in Nepal. As per the results of recent local election, ''Nepali Congress'' stands as the single largest party of ...

against the royal regime. In 1971, a young party leader from

Bhaktapur , motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture , image_map ...

, Narayan Man Bijukchhe (alias Rohit), broke away from Pushpa Lal's party after the decision of the party to support the Indian intervention in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

. Bijukchhe also criticized the line of seeking cooperation with Nepali Congress and the failure of the party to condemn the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as imperialist. Rohit would form the Nepal Workers Peasants Organisation in 1975. In 1976, a prominent student leader of Pushpa Lal's party, Madan Kumar Bhandari, broke away and formed the Mukti Morcha Samuha. These splits contributed to diminishing influence of Pushpa Lal's party. Pushpa Lal Shestra died in 1978. His funeral became a mass manifestation of the political opposition. His widow, Sahana Pradhan, took over the leadership of the party. Under Pradhan's leadership the party steered along a moderate course, endorsing Pushpa Lal's policy of cooperation with the Nepali Congress. The party worked alongside the Congress Party in the agitations against the

Panchayat The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical men ...

system in 1979, in the campaign for multiparty democracy ahead of the plebiscite of 1980 and mass protests against the royal government in 1985. In 1987, the party merged with Communist Party of Nepal (Manmohan) and formed the

Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist) The Communist Party of Nepal was founded in Calcutta, India, on 15 September 1949. Communist Party of Nepal may also refer to: * Communist Party of Nepal (2006) * Communist Party of Nepal (2013) * Communist Party of Nepal (2014) * Communist Part ...

References

{{CP-stub Defunct communist parties in Nepal Political parties established in 1968 1968 establishments in Nepal Political parties disestablished in 1987 1987 disestablishments in Nepal

History

See also

References