The Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP; ) was a

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, ...

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 ...

that worked for rights of the

Madhesi people Madheshi people () is a term used for several ethnic groups in Nepal living in the Terai region of Nepal. It has also been used as a political pejorative term by the Pahari people of Nepal to refer to Nepalis with a non-Nepali language as ...

and discriminated communities and groups of Nepal. On 21 April 2017, the party merged with Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party, Sadbhavana Party, Terai Madhes Sadbhawana Party, Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum (Republican) and Rastriya Madhesh Samajwadi Party to form

Rastriya Janata Party Nepal The Rastriya Janata Party, Nepal, abbr. ''RJPN'' (, translation: National People's Party, Nepal) was the fourth-largest political party in Nepal after the Nepali Congress, the Nepal Communist Party and the Samajbadi Party, Nepal. It was formed ...

History

The party was founded in 1985, as the Nepal Sadbhavana Council, by Gajendra Narayan Singh. In domestic affairs, it aimed at promoting the interests and citizenship of the Madhesi community of the

Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in parts of southern Nepal and northern India that lies to the south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by ...

Region, favored the introduction of Maithili as the second national language, and supported the framework of a democratic socialist society. Within the bipolar framework of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, it worked for the establishment of a special relationship with

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 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the framework of nonalignment. Govinda Sah is central spokesperson of Nepal Sadbhawana Party. Nepal Sadbhawana Parishad participated in the democratic movement in Nepal. After the People's Movement of 1990 against the monarchical Panchyati Regime, NSP participated in the multi-party system that was re-established in

. In 1990, it transformed into NSP. NSP took part in several coalition governments in

during the 1990s. At the last

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

before the

King of Nepal The King of Nepal (traditionally known as the Mahārājdhirāja i.e. Great King of Kings; ) was Nepal's head of state and monarch from 1768 to 2008. He served as the head of the Nepalese monarchy—Shah Dynasty. The monarchy was abolished on 2 ...

took power, 3 May and 16 May 1999, the party won 3.2% of the popular vote and five out of 205 seats. In July 2001, Singh reorganised the NSP central committee. Rajendra Mahato was appointed general secretary and Sarita Giri as Central Spokesperson Badri Prasad Mandal and Hridesh Tripathy, both members of parliament, were nominated vice-presidents. Mr. Gauri Shankar Mohpal was appointed as member of Central Committee who held position as Vice president earlier. Gajendra Narayan Singh died on January 23, 2002. Badri Prasad Mandal was appointed acting party chairman after Singh's death.

Splits, 2003–2015

At the 4th NSP general convention, held in

Rajbiraj Rajbiraj () is a mid-sized municipality located in the south-eastern part of Madhesh Province of Nepal. The city is also called the "Pink City of Nepal" because the township was designed in 1938 based on influence from the "Indian Pink City" Ja ...

in March 2003, the party split into two. A group led by the widow of Singh, Anandi Devi Singh and Hridesh Tripathy broke away and formed the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandidevi). The remaining group elected Badri Prasad Mandal as the new chairman of the party. The convention elected a Central Working Committee, consisting of Badri Prasad Mandal, Ramnarayan Yadav, Bisheswor Rajbanshi, Dilip Kumar Dhadewa, Bishwonath Singh Rajbanshi, Chandrakala Singh Kuswah, Manish Kumar Suman, Satyanarayan Yadav, Dipendra Kumar Chaudhary, Sitaram Mandal, Durga Chaudhary, Dr. Dambar Narayan Yadav, Rajkumar Gupta, Laxman Lal Karna, Amrita Agrahari and Devendra Mishra. In 2007, Mandal was expelled from the party. Laxman Lal Karna became the new party chairman. In June 2007, NSP merged into NSP(A). After the demise of Gajendra Narayan Singh the party came to be overshadowed by some of the other

Madhesh Madhesi, or variants, may refer to: *Madesi tribe, an indigenous group of Native Americans *Madheshi people, several Nepali people *Madhesh Province Madhesh Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal in the Terai region with an are ...

based parties coming into existence, which affected the party's strength. Also because of some dissatisfaction among the Nepal Sadbhawana Party's leaders the party broke into several pieces resulting into formation of several “Sadbhawana Parties”. under Rajendra Mahato,

Anil Kumar Jha Anil Kumar Jha () is a Nepali politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Represe ...

, Sarita Giri, Bikash Tiwari and Shyam Sundar Gupta.

Merger and dissolution, 2015–2017

In 2015, the Sanghiya Sadbhawna Party, led by Anil Kumar Jha, merged with the Nepal Sadbhawana Party. Anil Kumar Jha became the chair of the integrated party, while Sarita Giri became the vice chairperson and Rajeev Jha became the General Secretary. In early October 2015, Sarita Giri quit the Nepal Sadbhawana Party. Later Nepal Sadbhawana Party merged with another four smaller parties:

Madhesh Rastra Jantantrik Party (Krantikari) Madhesi, or variants, may refer to: *Madesi tribe, an indigenous group of Native Americans *Madheshi people, several Nepali people *Madhesh Province Madhesh Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal in the Terai region with an are ...

Social Republican Party The Social Republican Party (; , PRS) was a political party in Cambodia, founded by the then-Head of State of the Khmer Republic, Lon Nol, on 10 June 1972 to contest the general election held on 3 September 1972. History The Party was formed ...

, Nepal Republican People's Party and Jantantrik Terai Madhesh Mukti Tigers. Other local political leaders from

, from different parties in Mahottari, Bara and

Rupandehi Rupandehi District (; ), a part of Lumbini Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal and covers an area of . The district headquarter is Bhairahawa. As per the national census 2011, the population of Rupandehi was 880,196. Etymol ...

, also joined NSP. Following unification the party celebrated its silver jubilee, and participated in relief distribution after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. NSP's 6th General Convention in

Janakpur Janakpurdham or Janakpur (), is the capital city of Madhesh Province. This sub-metropolitan city is a central hub for the Maithili language, as well as for religious and cultural tourism in Nepal. The city was founded in the early 18th centur ...

took place in April 2016.

Electoral performance

References

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External links