Ram Chandra Pudel is a Nepali politician and the third President of Nepal. He was elected to Parliament six times and served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal, President of the Nepali Congress and Speaker of the Lower House (Pratinidhi Sabha) of the Parliament of Nepal. He spent more than 15 years in prison for his involvement in various movements in Nepalese politics.
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Wiki/Biography
Ram Chandra Pudel was born on Saturday 14 October 1944 (age 78; as of 2022) in Satiswara village in Bahunpokhar, Thanhun District, Nepal. His zodiac sign is Libra. He entered politics at the age of sixteen to protest against the dissolution of Parliament and the dismissal of the late BP Koirala government. In 1967, he completed his Sastri (Bachelor’s Degree) in Sanskrit Literature from Tribhuvan University. In 1970, he completed a Master of Arts degree in Nepali literature at Tribhuvan University and passed his exams while in jail for protesting against the panchayat system.
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′8″
Weight (approx): 65 kg
Hair color: salt and pepper
Eye Color: Black
family
He was born in a middle-class family.
parents and siblings
His father’s name was Durga Prasad Poodle and his mother’s name was Rishi Maya Poodle. His father was a farmer and a supporter of the Nepali Congress. He has four younger sisters.
wife and children
His wife’s name is Savita Pudel. They have four daughters named Sharmila, Sangya, Anugya and Avagya and a son named Chintan.
Ram Chandra Pudel family photo
signature
Career
politics
Student politics
After entering politics at the age of sixteen, King Mahendra of Nepal imprisoned the late Congress leader and Prime Minister of Nepal BP Koirala in 1960. He actively participated in the armed uprising movement in 1961 for the restoration of Bharatpur and Chitwan and restoration of democracy. In 1962, he started the Free Student Movement, and in 1966, he was elected as the president of the Saraswati College Student Union. In the same year, he founded the Gandak Student Committee and was elected its president. In 1967, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Democratic Socialist Youth League (DSYL). He was instrumental in founding the Nepal Students Union in 1970 and was elected as a senior member of the Union Committee.
Electoral politics
In 1977, he was elected a member of the Tanahun district committee of the Nepali Congress and became its vice president in 1979. In 1980, he was elected president of the Tanahun County Multi-Party Election Campaign Committee. In 1983, he became the coordinator of the Central Public Committee of the Nepali Congress. He later became a member of the Central Committee of the Nepali Congress, and in 1987 became the head of its Central Level Publicity Bureau.
Ram Chandra Pudel (third from right) in the 1980s
In the 1991 general elections, he contested the election in Tanhun Constituency #1 and became a Member of Parliament after defeating the Communist Party of Nepal (United People’s Front) candidate by a wide margin. On May 29, 1991, he was appointed as the Minister of Local Development and Agriculture and worked as a minister until 1994. In the 1994 general elections, he contested in Tanhun #2 Constituency and became a Member of Parliament after defeating the Communist Party of Nepal (United People’s Front) candidate. On 18 December 1994, he was appointed Speaker of the Lower House of the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha) and served until 23 March 1999. In the 1999 general election, he was re-elected from the Tanahun #2 Constituency and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and also the Prime Minister of Port 209 from 1999. In 2006, he was elected as the General Secretary of the Nepali Congress Central Committee and in 2008 became its Vice President. In 2006, he became the Coordinator of the Peace Secretariat and played an important role in facilitating the peace process, serving until 2007. In the Constituent Assembly elections, he was elected from Tanahun Constituency #2 and was elected as the Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party on 20 June 2009 after defeating the former Prime Minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba. In 2009, he became the vice president of the Nepali Congress and was also the party president after the death of Sushil Koirala. In 2010, he contested the parliamentary elections for the post of Prime Minister of the Nepali Congress along with Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the UCPN-Maoist and Jhala Nath Khanal of the UML; However, he could not secure victory and lost to Jala Nath Khanal in the 17th round of voting. In the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections, he was re-elected from Tanahun Constituency 2. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, he contested from Tanhun District #1 and lost to Communist Alliance’s Krishna Kumar Shrestha. In November 2022, he was elected as a member of the Lower House of Parliament from Tanahun District No. 1.
Ram Chandra Pudel is campaigning for the 2022 elections
President of Nepal
On 9 March 2023, he became the third President of Nepal at the age of 78 after defeating Subash Chandra Nembang. He received 214 votes out of 332 votes in the parliament and 352 votes from 7 provinces out of 550 provincial votes. He was preceded by Bidya Devi Bhandari.
Ram Chandra Pudel after winning the 2023 presidential election
writer
Ram Chandra Pudel has written many articles and books on political and social issues. His articles have been published in many leading newspapers. Some of his books are What Nepali Congress Says in 1976, Democratic Socialism – A Study in 1990, Abhisapta Etihas in 2004 and Agrarian Revolution and Socialism in 2013. He has won many awards for his literary works.
prison time
He spent more than 15 years in jail for protesting against the political system and panchayat system imposed by the king. In 1962, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for seizing Bharatpur by the Nepali Congress. In 1964, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for the student movement in Kathmandu. In 1966, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for his participation in the movement to remove the then Deputy Inspector General of Police. In 1967 he was imprisoned for 14 months for organizing the activities of the Democratic Socialist Youth League (DSYL) in Pokhara and again in Kathmandu in 1969 for 12 months for organizing the activities of the DSYL in western Nepal. In 1970, he was sentenced to 3 months in prison for founding the Nepalese Student Union in Kathmandu. After the release of the late BP Koirala in 1971, he was sentenced to 4 years in prison for active political activities. In 1977, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for participating in the Patan Conference of the Nepali Congress, where it was decided to launch a satyagraha movement for the release of the late BP Koirala and the restoration of democracy. In 1979, he was jailed for 6 months for spearheading a referendum movement to choose between a multi-party democracy or a non-party panchayat system. In 1981, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for boycotting the elections of the panchayat system. In 1985, he was sentenced to 9 months in prison for participating in the Satyagraha movement. In 1988, he was jailed for violating the Publication Act under the Panchayat Constitution and writing about the Nepali Congress. In 1989, he was sentenced to 5 months in prison for organizing and inciting people in the movement for the restoration of democracy. In 2003, he was jailed for a year and a half when former king Gyanendra Bikram Shah imposed royal rule after the 2001 royal palace massacre.
confrontations
Organized UML split in 1998
Ram Chandra Podel was accused in 1998 by former Prime Minister of Nepal and CPN-UML President KP Sharma Oli of causing a split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN – UML). In early 1998, RK Mainali, CP Mainali and Bam Dev Gautam formed a new party along with many CPN-UML leaders and called it Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist (CPN-ML).
Supporting Sher Bahadur Deuba in 2021 Congress Convention
He was accused of supporting Sher Bahadur Deuba for the post of party president after it was revealed that he would not be able to become the president again and supported a rebel candidate. He was said to have struck a deal with Deuba to support Poodle’s Nepalese presidential aspirations.
Awards and honors
- Mahendra Bikram Shah Prize in 1987 for an article entitled The Human Rights Situation in Nepal
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun from Japan 2020 for Contribution to Strengthening Nepal-Japan Ties
Facts/Trivia
- He is fondly called Ram Chandra Dai by his fellow Congress workers.
- He participated in all movements in Nepal since 1960.
- He worked extensively with former Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala after Koirala returned to Nepal from India.
Categories: Sports
Source: dienchau2.edu.vn
