Nepali National Congress () 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 was founded in 1947. The party was founded to protest the Rana rule in Nepal.

Dilli Raman Regmi Dilli Raman Regmi () (17 December 1913 – 30 August 2001) was a scholar, political figure and academician of Nepal. He dedicated his life to research, study, writing and politics. He was one of the driving forces behind creating Nepali Rastriya ...

B. P. Koirala Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala (; 8 September 1914 – 21 July 1982), better known as B. P. Koirala (), was a Nepali revolutionary, political leader, and writer. He was the Prime Minister of Nepal from 1959 to 1960. He led the Nepali Congress ...

Matrika Prasad Koirala Matrika Prasad Koirala ( ; 1 January 1912 – 11 September 1997) was the Prime Minister of Nepal for two separate terms from 16 November 1951 to 14 August 1952 and again from 15 June 1953 to 11 April 1955. Personal life Koirala was born to Kri ...

Ganesh Man Singh Ganesh Man Singh ( Nepali: गणेशमान सिंह; November 9, 1915 – September 18, 1997) was a Nepali politician who was leader of the 1990 Nepalese revolution. He is considered the Father of Democracy and the Iron-man of Nepal ...

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai Krishna Prasad Bhattarai ( Nepali: कृष्णप्रसाद भट्टराई; 13 December 19244 March 2011) also known as Kishunji was a Nepalese political leader. He was one of the main leaders involved in transitioning Nepal from ...

, Mahendra Narayan Nidhi were founding members of the party. The party merged with Nepal Democratic Congress on 9 April 1950 to form the

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ; Abbreviation, abbr. NC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Nepal, political party in Nepal and the largest party in the country ...

. A faction of the party led by

continued to operate until 1960 when political parties were banned under the Panchayat rule in Nepal.

History

During the Rana rule in Nepal, all opposition activities were heavily scrutinized by the government. A major centre for political exiles during this time was

Benaras Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of ...

, Benaras also had a significant population of Nepalese expatriates and students. A mass political party had been organized among the Nepalese population in Benaras by October 1946 by the name of All India Nepali National Congress. The ad-hoc committee of the party included president Devi Prasad Sapkota, vice-president Balchandra Sharma, general secretary

and publicity minister Gopal Prasad Bhattarai. B.P. Koirala was the coordinator of the Central Working Committee of the party which included Batuk Prasad Bhattarai, Narayan Prasad Bhattarai and Narendra Regmi. Around the same time in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, another popular destination for the Nepalese diaspora, a separate organisation by the name of All India Nepali Gorkha Congress was formed whose chairman was Dharma Narayan Pradhan. B.P. Koirala during this time traveled to

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Bhagsu Bhagsu/Bhaksu (also known as Bhagsunag or Bhagsunath) is a village near McLeod Ganj in Dharamshala, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, India. The village is the site of Bhagsunag waterfall and the ancient Bhagsunag Temple. In early 18t ...

and

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

which had a significant population of Nepalese exiles. There he established contacts with pro-democracy activists like

and the Gorkha Congress. In January 1947, in a mass session organized by Nepalese pro-democracy activists in Kolkata, the two parties merged and under the name Nepali National Congress. The session elected imprisoned democracy activist

Tanka Prasad Acharya Tanka Prasad Acharya (Nepali: टंक प्रसाद आचार्य; 11 February 1912 – 23 April 1992) also known as Jeudo-Shahid(living martyr), was a Nepali politician who served as the 19th Prime Minister of Nepal from 1956 to 1957 ...

as the party chairman and B.P. Koirala was made acting president of the party. The major four proposals passed by the session were to assist Indians in their independence movement, support Vietnam struggling for freedom against French colonization, ask for the immediate release of imprisoned members of the

Nepal Praja Parishad The Nepal Praja Parishad (Nepali language, Nepali: नेपाल प्रजा परिषद) was the first attempt to form an organization to lead the revolution against the Rana dynasty in Nepal. Led by Tanka Prasad Acharya, the group wa ...

, and initiate a

satyagraha Satyāgraha (from ; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone who practises satyagraha is ...

in Nepal for the establishment of a democratic system. The organization's ''

modus operandi A (often shortened to M.O. or MO) is an individual's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as . Term The term is often used in ...

'' was chosen, and attached itself to the civil conscience process in Nepal by establishing Tanka Prasad Acharya as its chairman.

Jute Mill Strike

Soon after the party's formation, it had participated in the Biratnagar Jute Mill Strike. The labor strike which started in March 1947 quickly turned into a demonstration against the Rana regime. Koirala along with his brother Girija Prasad who had joined the strikers were arrested and brought to Kathmandu.

was elected as interim president after Koirala's arrest to conduct a

campaign against the Rana regime. The call was met with protests across major cities in the country including the capital Kathmandu. On 16 May 1947, after weeks of protests prime minister Padma Shumsher announced sweeping administrative reforms and released political prisoners. The general conference of the party in July 1947 elected

interim president and Prem Bahadur Kansakar as general secretary. B.P. Koirala was not amongst those released but under pressure from the Indian political leaders, he was released in August 1947. The unexpected release of Koirala caused a rift in the party with Regmi insisting that he should serve his term as acting president. When the rift could not be fixed the Regmi faction of the party broke off and launched a parallel party. The 1948 Constitution was announched by Rana

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Padma Shamsher on 26 January with significant reforms to the administration of the country and was welcomed by the party as a step in the right direction. However in April of that year, Padma Shamsher went into exile resigned because of pressure within the Rana family to not implement the constitution. Moham Shamsher took over as prime minister and one of his first acts was to ban the Nepali National Congress throughout the country. The new constitution was supposed to come into effect from the Nepali New Year in April and to be fully operative within twelve months, but was not implemented by the new prime minister. B.P. Koirala was also arrested for a second time by the Rana government but was released in June 1949 following a threat of a nationwide satyagraha by the party.

was elected as party president in a general convention in March 1949. In March 1950, the party merged with the Nepal Democratic Congress to form the

while the Regmi faction continued its operation.

Transition era

The party was critical of the 1951 revolution since it violated the

Gandhian philosophy Gandhism is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. The ...

of nonviolence which the party was committed to. During the last days of the revolution,

was invited by the Rana regime to organize an opposition party with the financial backing of Bijaya Shamsher who was the son of prime minister Mohan Shamsher. During the rule of the Rana–Congress cabinet, the party launched a campaign of publicity attacks on Nepali Congress and Home Minister B.P. Koirala. Regmi was sentenced to six months in prison and faced a penalty of रु. 500 when once such attack made comments on a sub judice case. He was released on 19 December 1951 after he paid the fine. The party was also a member of the United Democratic Front along with some

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

organisations. The front organised

s against the government's handling of the Security Act and also demanded for the release of Kunwar Indrajit Singh and other political prisoners. The party opposed the formation of an all Nepali Congress government following the fall of the Rana–Congress cabinet in November 1951. The party along with Nepal Praja Parishad called for the formation of a

national unity government A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other na ...

. In May 1952, Regmi expelled four members of the Working Committee including

Rishikesh Shah Rishikesh Shah (May 16, 1925 – November 13, 2002) was a Nepalese writer, politician and human rights activist.All-Nepal Jana Congress. The party was a member of the League of Democrats formed in September 1953 against the Matrika Prasad Koirala cabinet by opposition parties. The league was short-lived however and in February 1954 the party joined the cabinet with party president

serving as a minister for education, foreign affairs, health and local self-government. In April 1954, King Tribhuwan announced the formation of an Advisory Assembly with 7 ministers and 106 nominated members. All political parties were granted representation in the assembly and Nepali National Congress received 8 seats. The assembly however was boycotted by the party because of the over representation of

Rastriya Praja Party Rastriya Praja Party was a political party in Nepal, founded in 1952 when Matrika Prasad Koirala broke away from the Nepali Congress. As the leader of the party, M.P. Koirala was appointed prime minister by the King. The party did however, not de ...

. On 8 May 1955,

King Mahendra Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was King of Nepal from 13 March 1955 until his death in 1972. He led the 1960 Nepal coup d'état, 1960 coup d'état, in which he dismissed the government, jailed other political ...

had called upon a conference of political, social and cultural organization at the royal palace in order to establish a new political system but Nepali National Congress boycotted the meeting. The party along with

and

called upon the king to set up a new cabinet as soon as possible. The parties were then involved in a series of negotiations with the king and

of the

was appointed prime minister in January 1956 with the support of the political parties. Nepali National Congress however withdrew their support for Acharya by August 1956. In March 1957 independents

Khadga Man Singh Khanda Man Singh Basnet () was a Nepalese politician. Singh was born in March 1907 in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1927, he with others founded the Prachanda Gorkha, a secret society launched to overthrow the Rana dynasty from power in Nepal. He died ...

Dharma Ratna Yami Dharma Ratna Tuladhar, popularly known as Dharma Ratna Yami () was a Nepalese government deputy minister, activist and Newa language writer While serving eighteen years jail term, he changed his surname from Tuladhar to ''Yami'' (meaning an inh ...

and dissidents from the

Kedar Man Vyathit, Purna Bahadur Manav joined the party. In July 1957, the party along with Nepali Congress and Nepal Praja Parishad offered to form a coalition government in order to forestall Kunwar Indrajit Singh's appointment as prime minister, which was ignored by King Mahendra. The party was widely critical of the K.I. Singh cabinet, and questioned whether their administration would hold elections in the country. After it was announced that the elections were postponed the United Democratic Front launched by Nepali National Congress,

and

announced plans for a civil-disobedience movement starting in December of that year. In a conference held by King Mahendra the front proposed to hold an election within the next six months but since there was no

royal proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

from the king, they started with their movements. King Mahendra finally announced the date of the election on 15 December and the front stopped their protests, the party also endorsed the royal proposal but expressed hope that the parliament would serve as a

constituent assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

as well.

1959 elections

In the municipal elections of the Kathmandu Valley in January 1958, the front failed to gain a majority of seats in most of the local councils losing to Independents backed by the

Communist Party of Nepal The Communist Party of Nepal (), abbreviated CPN, was a communist party in Nepal from 1949 to 1962. It was founded on 15 September 1949 to struggle against the autocratic Rana regime, feudalism, and imperialism. The founding general secretary ...

. King Mahendra called a meeting of five political parties in April 1958 to form a national unity government to hold the elections proposed for 1959 following which

joined the cabinet of Subarna Shamsher as

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. The party nominated twenty candidates for the 1959 election and was two short of the

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

's qualification to be recognized as a national party. The party was assigned the umbrella as an election symbol. At the election, the party failed to gain any seats with party president Dilli Raman Regmi forfeiting his desposit for not getting one sixth of the vote. The party joined an alliance with

Gorkha Parishad Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad (Nepal Nationalist Gorkha Council), a pro-monarchy political party in Nepal. The party was founded in 1951 by members of the erstwhile Rana dynasty. The party was led by Bharat Shamsher JBR and MG Mrigendra Shamsh ...

and

Bhadrakali Mishra Bhadrakali Mishra (; 6 February 1920 – 1 June 2006) was a Nepali politician. In a political career lasting more than 50 years, several of which he spent in exile, he held numerous ministerial portfolios and was also the Chairman of King Biren ...

's faction of the

following the election. After King Mahendra's coup in 1960, political leaders including

were arrested along with many party workers.

Election results

National Assembly

References

{{Authority control Political parties in Nepal Defunct political parties in Nepal Nepali Congress Political parties disestablished in 1950