Who is Baburam Bhattarai? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Age: 70 Years, 70 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Hisila Yami

children: Manushi Bhattarai

Prime Ministers Political Leaders

Height: 5'6" (168 cm), 5'6" Males

Notable Alumni: Jawaharlal Nehru University

More Facts

education: School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, Chandigarh College of Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Amrit Campus

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Childhood & Early Life

Baburam Bhattarai was born on June 18, 1854 in Gorkha in Khoplang VDC in central Nepal into a poor peasant family. He had an elder sister, a younger sister and a younger brother.

He did his schooling at ‘Amar Jyoti High School’ in Luintel, Gorkha. He ranked first in the whole of Nepal during the ‘School Leaving Certificate Exam’ in 1970.

He joined ‘Amrit Science College’ and again scored the highest marks in the board examination.

He received a scholarship under the Colombo Plan and went to Chandigarh in India to study architecture. He received his Bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1977.

He founded the ‘All India Nepalese Students’ Association’ during his stay in Chandigarh and became its President.

He pursued his Master’s degree from the ‘Delhi School of Planning and Architecture’ and received his M.Tech degree in 1979.

He completed his PhD degree from the ‘Jawaharlal Nehru University’ in New Delhi in 1986.

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Career

He joined the pro-Maoist Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) in 1981 after returning to Nepal and became a leader of the movement in 1986.

He established the CPN (Unity Center) in 1990 and joined the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) under Pushpa Kumar Dahal or Prachanda in 1994.

On February 4, 1996 Bhattarai gave the Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba a list of 40 demands and threatened an armed struggle if the demands were not met by the ruling Nepali Congress.

He and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) started agitation very soon before the deadline was over which continued until the April 26, 2006.

Bhattarai had a disagreement with Prachanda about power sharing within the CPN (M) party during the armed movement and was expelled from the party and put under house-arrest but was reinstated later.

There was reconciliation between the two leaders during the later stages of 2004 and 2005. Bhattarai played a key role in the mediation process to bring the armed movement to an end in April 2006.

When the election was held after the truce, Bhattarai became the second in command of the CPN (M) headed by Prachanda which was one of the constituents of the ‘Seven Party Alliance’.

The alliance reinstated the parliament which had been dissolved in May 2002 and a new constitution was drawn up by the new constituent assembly. It stripped the king of all his powers and transformed the monarchy into a republic on May 28, 2008.

He was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Gorkha in 2008 and was made the Finance Minister in the new government under Prachanda.

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Bhattarai became the Prime Minister in August 2011 after Prachanda resigned in May 2009 followed by two unsuccessful governments headed by prime ministers from the opposition CPN (Marxist-Leninist) party.

He remained the Prime Minister till March 2013 when he also resigned to solve the political deadlock since the dissolution of the Constituent assembly in May 2012. He was replaced by Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi who headed the interim government till elections were held in June 2013.

He remained a ‘Senior Standing Committee Member’ and the Vice Chairperson of the ‘Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)’ until he resigned from the party on September 27, 2015.

He resigned from the party and all other responsibilities as he was sympathetic to the concern of the Madhesis who were being denied their right to voice their demands. He was asked by some groups of Madhesis to quit the party and lead their movement.

Bhattarai decided to join this movement as he had the support of almost 85 Maoist members in the parliament.

On January 24, 2016 he formed a new party called ‘New Force Nepal’ which consisted of an ‘Interim Central Council’ with Maoists, former government officials, technocrats, artistes, political analysts, and former bureaucrats as an alternative to the UCPN (M) government led by Prachanda.

Major Works

The PhD thesis of Baburam Bhattarai titled ‘The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal – A Marxist Analysis’ was published as a book in 2003.

His book ‘Politico-Economic Rationale of People’s War in Nepal’ was published in 1998.

A book written in the Nepali language ‘Nepal! Krantika Adharharu’ was published in 2004. He has many other articles to his credit.

Personal Life & Legacy

Baburam Bhattarai married Hisila Yami who was also a leader in the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

He has a daughter named Manushi.

He has worked for the distribution of land held by the gentry to the landless farmers in the country.

Baburam Bhattarai Biography