The Nepal Workers Peasants Party (NWPP), also known as the Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party and the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party ( ne, नेपाल मजदुर किसान पार्टी; abbr. , ), is a
communist political party in Nepal. The party was founded on 23 January 1975 by
Narayan Man Bijukchhe and draws most of its support from
Bhaktapur
, motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture
, image_map ...
. The party is sympathetic to the
Workers' Party of Korea
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party ...
and has declared ''
Juche
''Juche'' ( ; ), officially the ''Juche'' idea (), is the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea. North Korean sources attribute its conceptualization to Kim Il-sung, the country's founder and f ...
'' to be a "directional ideology".
History
Foundation and early years (1975–1981)
The Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party was founded as the Nepal Workers and Peasants Organization (NPWO) in Nepal on 23 January 1975. The NPWO broke away from the
Communist Party of Nepal (Pushpa Lal) in protest over
Pushpa Lal Shrestha's support for 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 ...
, together with the
Proletarian Revolutionary Organisation, Nepal, and the
Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti. In 1981, the NWPO split, and two separate parties came into existence. One party was led by
Narayan Man Bijukchhe, which later became the Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party and the other was led by
Hareram Sharma.
[Rawal, Bhim Bahadur. ''Nepalma samyabadi andolan: udbhab ra vikas''. Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan. Chart nr. 1.]
Jana Andholan I and II (1990–2007)
Bijukchhe's NWPO formed part of the
United Left Front and took part in the 1990
Jana Andolan
The 1990 People's Movement ( ne, २०४६ जनआन्दोलन, 2046 Jana Andolan) was a multiparty movement in Nepal that brought an end to absolute monarchy and the beginning of constitutional monarchy. It also eliminated the Panch ...
uprising. It participated in the formation of the
Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal but left shortly before the
1991 election. The group changed its name to the Nepal Workers Peasants Party and contested the election separately. It fielded 30 candidates, out of whom two were elected. The party received a total of 91,335 votes, or 1.25%.
Ahead of the 1992 elections to local bodies, the NWPP formed an electoral coalition with the Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal,
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist),
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 ...
, and
Nepal Communist League.
NWPP was active in the protest movements against repression in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
and is a member of the
Seven Party Alliance
The Seven Party Alliance was a coalition of seven Nepali political parties seeking to end autocratic rule in the country. They spearheaded the Loktantra Andolan.
The alliance was made up of the following parties:
* Nepali Congress
* Nepali Congr ...
which spearheaded the 2006
Loktantra Andolan
The 2006 Democracy Movement ( ne, text=लोकतन्त्र आन्दोलन, translit=Loktantra Āndolan) is a name given to the political agitations against the direct and undemocratic rule of King Gyanendra of Nepal. The movement ...
. After the restoration of a democratic system, the party decided not to join the government, but stayed in the Seven Party Alliance, which later converted into the
Eight Party Alliance. When the
interim legislature was formed in January 2007, Bijukchhe was joined by three other nominated MPs.
Constituent Assembly and Federal Nepal (2008–present)
The party contested the
2008 Constituent Assembly elections and won four seats to the
Constituent Assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
. The party also had one nominated member. In the
2013 Constituent Assembly elections, the party again won four seats. The party voted for Khadga Prasad Oli in the prime minister election on 12 October 2015.
In the
2017 local elections, the party won 99 seats across local governments and won one mayoral position, with
Sunil Prajapati
Sunil Prajapati ( ne, सुनिल प्रजापति) is a Nepalese politician who is the current mayor of Bhaktapur, belonging to the Nepal Workers Peasants Party.
In the 1999 Nepalese legislative election, 1999 parliamentary election ...
being elected as the mayor of
Bhaktapur Municipality. The party also contested the
2017 legislative and provincial elections, winning one seat in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and two seats to the
Provincial Assembly of Province No. 3
The Provincial Assembly of Bagmati Province also known as the Bagmati Pradesh Sabha, (Nepali: वाग्मती प्रदेश सभा) is a unicameral governing and law making body of Bagmati Province, one of the seven provinces in N ...
.
Ideology
The Nepal Workers Peasants Party is a communist party, with the party taking major inspiration from the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
Mao Zedong Thought ideology. The guiding economic principle of the party is
scientific socialism
Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book '' What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...
.
In recent years, the party has incorporated the
''Juche'' idea as a guiding principle.
After visiting
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
, party leader
Narayan Man Bijukchhe has attempted to implement the governing policies of ''Juche'' into the city of
Bhaktapur
, motto = ne, पुर्खले सिर्जेको सम्पत्ती, हाम्रो कला र संस्कृति , lit=Creation of our ancestors, our heritage and culture
, image_map ...
.
Portraits of the
Kim family can be found at the party headquarters in Bhaktapur. The party sees
political independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the ...
and
economic self-sufficiency as the cornerstones of development. The party also sees India as an
imperialist force working against Nepalese interests.
List of Members of Parliament
List of Pratinidhi Sabha members from Nepal Majdoor Kishan Party
Electoral performance
Legislative elections
Provincial elections
Bagmati
References
{{Political parties in Nepal
Communist parties in Nepal
Juche political parties
1975 establishments in Nepal
Political parties established in 1975