Hammer, sickle and the political tickle

Nepali communist parties have become authoritarian enclaves led by unretiring megalomaniacs.

Nepal’s Communist movement was founded on the revolutionary legacy of young Nepalis who fought against the dynastic and autocratic Rana regime. Pushpalal Shrestha, who established Nepal’s first communist party, was inspired by the disbanded outfit Nepal Praja Parishad. Shrestha’s brother Gangala was among Parishad’s founding members, who was killed by the regime when he was only 22 years old. Pushpalal established the Nepal Communist Party while studying in India, along with other Nepali political activists like Nara Bahadur Karmacharya and Niranjan Govinda Baidhya.