Daman Nath Dhungana is a Nepali politician and former house speaker. He played an instrumental role during the Nepal peace process between 2003 and 2009. His role as the first house speaker after the establishment of constitutional monarchy, in 1990, is considered exemplary. He returned to active politics in 2017 after a gap of 23 years. He is known for his vocal criticisms of the conduct of parliamentarians, including House Speaker and committee chairs, for what he considers, breaks from proper procedures and best practices.
Biography
He was the founder executive member of
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
. He also served as the president of the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
Bar Association
A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...
in 1984. He was the first House Speaker after the democratic revolution, in 1990. Dhungana, in his role as House Speaker, is thought to have set the precedent for allowing the
opposition leader
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
to address the parliament before an address from the Prime minister, in accordance with common international practice. He is remembered as a non-partisan Speaker.
After losing the parliamentary elections in 1994, he had effectively retired from partisan politics and developed a reputation as a
civil society
Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.Nepal Maoist Party during the peace process, along with
Padma Ratna Tuladhar
Padma Ratna Tuladhar ( ne, पद्मरत्न तुलाधर) (1940–2018) was a Nepalese politician and human rights activist. A resident of Kathmandu, he played an instrumental role in bringing the Nepali Maoists to mainstream politic ...
. He was the observer, negotiator and advisor of Nepal's peace process from 2003 to 2009. Although always associated with
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 o ...
, he was said to be "too close" to the Maoists, at one time during the peace process. In 2009, he proposed to create a high-level steering committee to strengthen pro-peace lobbies in all parties, a proposal later endorsed by the then Prime minister
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Madhav Kumar Nepal ( ne, माधवकुमार नेपाल, ; born 6 March 1953), is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served as Prime Minister of Nepal from 25 May 2009 to 6 February 2011 for nearly two years. ...
.
He made a surprise comeback to active politics in 2017 after a gap of 23 years. He was fielded by
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 o ...
in
Bhaktapur
, motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture
, image_map ...
-2 constituency, against the common candidate of
CPN UML CPN may refer to:
* Calpine Corporation, New York Stock Exchange symbol CPN
* Canadian Perinatal Network
* ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter''
* Carpinteria (Amtrak station), California, Amtrak station code CPN
* Caspian Airlines (Iran), ICAO airli ...
first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
Krishna Bahadur Mahara
Krishna Bahadur Mahara is a Nepalese politician, belonging to the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).He was a prominent Maoist leader during the civil war. After the maoists entered the peace process, he was elected to parliament/constituent-assembly ...
had wrongfully declared the National Medical Education Bill passed, and therefore, the bill should be reintroduced to the house. Speaker Mahara had declared that the majority of parliamentarians had said "nay" to the section under vote and therefore it had been passed. Dhungana argued that the records would show the Speaker had declared the bill passed despite a "nay" from the majority and there was no provision to correct the records for a
slip of the tongue
''Slip of the Tongue'' is the eighth studio album by the British band Whitesnake, released in 1989. The album peaked at number 10 on both the UK Album Chart and US ''Billboard'' 200. Three singles were released from the album: " Fool for Your ...
. On 1 February 2019, Dr. Govinda KC broke his 16th hunger strike accepting juice from Dhungana and former Chief JusticeSushila Karki. Dhungana opposed the move by State Affairs and Good Governance Committee of the House of Representatives to bar the media from covering its meetings in May 2019.