Jibaraj Ashrit (August 1944 - 16 May 1993) was a

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 ...

i communist revolutionary. He was part of the

Mukti Morcha Samuha Mukti Morcha Samuha ( Nepali for 'Liberation Front Group') was an underground communist group in Nepal. Formed in 1976 following a split from the Communist Party of Nepal of Pushpa Lal Shrestha, it was led by student leader Madan Kumar Bhandari. ...

. He died in a vehicular accident (suspected assassination) in Dasdhunga, Chitwan on 16 May 1993 while travelling with another communist leader,

Madan Bhandari Nepal Ratna Madan Kumar Bhandari () (27 June 1951K.C., Surendra. ''Aitihasik dastavej sangroh - bhag 2''. Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan, 2063 B.S.. p 464. – 17 May 1993), commonly known as Madan Bhandari, was a popular Nepali political lead ...

. He was the head of Organisation department of

CPN UML CPN may refer to: * Calpine Corporation, New York Stock Exchange symbol CPN * ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' * Carpinteria (Amtrak station), California, Amtrak station code CPN * Caspian Airlines (Iran), ICAO airline designator ''CPN'' * Celiac ...

at the time of his death.

Career

Ashrit entered politics as a student. He became a member of

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 ...

in 1964–65. He was a political prisoner between 1969 and 1972. He was known for his skill in building an organised movement, and was

's Chief of Organisation Department at the time of his death.

Views

Jibaraj Ashrit was a strong advocate of ending all forms of

casteism A caste is a fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (endogamy), foll ...

and worked to empower women and increase their participation in active politics.

Personal life

He was born in August 1944 (18 Shrawan 2001 BS) in Harewa,

Gulmi District Gulmi District (), a part of Lumbini Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Tamghas as its headquarters, covers an area of , had a population of 296,654 in 2001, 280,160 in 2011 and 268,597 in 2016. Intro ...

. He was married to Maya Gyawali.

Death

's Chief of Organisation Department, he was travelling the country in 1993. While travelling with party Secretary

, from

Pokhara Pokhara ( ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city located in central Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. Named the country's "capital of tourism" it is the List of cities in Nepal, second largest city after Kathmandu, with 599,5 ...

, where he was participating in the party's

Kaski District Kaski District (, ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The name is disambiguated from Kaskikot, the ancient Kaski Kingdom. The district, with Pokhara as its district headquarter, covers an area of 2,01 ...

Conference, to

Chitwan Chitwan District (, , ) is one of seventy-seven districts of Nepal, and takes up the southwestern corner of Bagmati Province. Bharatpur, largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu, is its administrative centre. It covers , and in 2011 had a popul ...

, where the district conference of the Women wing of the party and other programmes were scheduled, he died in a vehicular accident at

Dasdhunga ''Dasdhunga'' () is a Nepali film based on true events of the mysterious death of leader of CPN-UML Madan Bhandari in Dashdhunga, Trishuli, Nepal. The only witness of the event and the driver of the vehicle was later shot dead at Kirtipur Kirti ...

Kabilash VDC Kabilasha is a ward in Dakneshwori Municipality in Saptari District in the Sagarmatha Zone of south-eastern Nepal. At the time of the 2011 Nepal census Nepal conducted a widespread national census in 2011 by the Nepal Central Bureau of Stati ...

, Chitwan. Although ruled an accident, many, including prominent politicians of

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) The Nepal Communist Party, abbreviated NCP (, ) was a communist party in Nepal that existed from 2018 to 2021. It was founded on 17 May 2018, from the unification of two leftist parties, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) a ...

, consider the deaths as unresolved case, and are known to accuse political rivals of the murder of Ashrit and Bhandari via a conspiracy that was covered up during the investigation. Their driver, who had survived the accident, was gunned down in

Kirtipur Kirtipur (; Nepal Bhasa: किपू ''Kipoo'') is a Municipality and an ancient city of Nepal. The Newars are the natives of Kipoo (Kirtipur). It is located in the Kathmandu Valley 5 km south-west of the city of Kathmandu. It is one of th ...

, years later.

Legacy

In 2010, ''Jibaraj Ashrit Foundation'' was established in Deepnagar,

Butwal Butwal (), officially Butwal Sub-Metropolitan City (), previously known as Khasyauli (Nepali: खस्यौली), is a sub-metropolitan city and economic hub in Lumbini Province in West Nepal. Butwal has a city population of 195,054 as per t ...

, with the goal of raising awareness about and preserving the memory.of his life and contributions. In 2019, ''Jibaraj Ashrit Museum'' built by the foundation with six of the eight million rupees granted to it by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

opened for the public. Among the attractions were reported to be his writings, clothes and other items owned and used by him, biographical documentaries on him, as well as Rs 1,300 found on his person after his death and a 10-band radio gifted to him by

Pradeep Gyawali Pradeep Kumar Gyawali () is a Nepalese politician. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 14 March 2018 to 4 June 2021 under prime minister KP Sharma Oli. He is a central committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxi ...

References