Ram Raja Prasad Singh () (1936 – 12 September 2012) was a

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

ese politician. In July 2008, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), a

ese

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

which merged with other communist parties and renamed to

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre) The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre) or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal and a member party of Samajbadi Morcha. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communi ...

, or CPN(M-C), proposed Singh as their candidate in the first presidential election in the country. Singh was born in 1936, in the

Saptari district Saptari (), is Located in the easternmost part of Madhesh Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. Its district headquarter is Rajbiraj. Saptari is an Outer Terai district. This district covers an area of and has a population ...

. His father, Jaya Mangal Prasad Singh, was landlord of Indian origin. In 1942,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n socialist leaders

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

and Ram Manohar Lohia visited Nepal to gain support for the Quit India Movement and organise a

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

army to fight against British colonial rule. The two stayed at Singh's household, when he was seven years old. Nepali police discovered a cache of rifles in the forest and arrested Lohia and Narayan, along with three other comrades. Singh's father and the remaining guerrilla soldiers attacked the detention centre and freed the guerillas. His father was later arrested and sentenced for the killing of two policemen during the raid. Ram Raja and his brother Laxman were imprisoned alongside their father. They were released after

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

. Singh went on to study law at

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. He met

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n revolutionary leader

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

while studying at the university. Guevara advised Singh to take up guerrilla struggle in Nepal. Singh, a young

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

lawyer, contested one of the four graduate seats in the 1971 Rastriya Panchayat election. He won the seat on a platform of restoring

parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of the legisl ...

in Nepal, and his victory was seen as a humiliation for the regime. Whilst several other candidates for the graduate seats had declared their wish for gradual democratic reforms (17 candidates contested on a common reformist platform), Singh was the sole candidate to call for immediate transition to democracy. The presiding officer of the Rastriya Panchayat was reluctant to let Singh be sworn in along with the other members of the assembly. He was arrested by plainclothes policemen inside the lobby of the assembly. A special tribunal sentenced him. On August 26, 1971, he was given a royal pardon and was later sworn in as a member of the Rastriya Panchayat. After his release, Singh continued to be a vocal advocate for democratic change and began organising public meetings in different parts of the country. In 1976, he established Nepal Janabadi Morcha (Nepal Democratic Front), a left-wing political movement in Nepal. Singh claimed responsibility for the 1985 bombings in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. He was convicted of the bombings and his property was confiscated by the government. However, Singh escaped Nepal and went into exile in

. At least eight people were killed, including a member of parliament. In the capital, the blasts went off near the royal palace, at the deluxe Hotel de l'Annapurna owned by the royal family, Singh Durbar, the prime minister's office, and parliament. Bombs also went off at the Bhairahawa airport, Nepalganj and Mahendranagar in the west as well as Birgunj, Janakpur, Biratnagar and Jhapa in the east. He returned to Nepal in 1990. On 2 September 2012, Singh was admitted to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH) in the Kathmandu. He died on 12 September 2012 at the hospital at the age of 77. The Nepali government ordered the

national flag A national flag is a flag that represents and national symbol, symbolizes a given nation. It is Fly (flag), flown by the government of that nation, but can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanin ...

to be flown at

half-mast Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a sal ...

in all government offices in the country and Nepali embassies and missions abroad on 13 September 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Ramraja 1936 births 2012 deaths Nepal Janabadi Morcha politicians People sentenced to death in absentia People from Saptari District Delhi University alumni Madhesi people Candidates for President of Nepal Nepalese expatriates in India

See also

References