Upendra Yadav (; born 12 November 1960) is a Nepalese politician who has twice served as

Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal The deputy prime minister of Nepal () is the deputy head of government of Nepal. The deputy prime minister is second in seniority in the Council of Ministers of Nepal. The deputy prime minister is the senior-most member of cabinet after prime min ...

and also as the chairman of the People's Socialist Party, Nepal from 2020 until 2023. He was previously a Minister of Health and Population. He also served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in the Dahal cabinet from 2008 to 2009 and in the Khanal cabinet in 2011. Yadav lost an election in 2022, being defeated by Janamat Party chair CK Raut in Saptari 2 with a margin of 18,000 votes.

Early life and education

Yadav was born in Bhagwatpur,

Saptari Saptari (), is Located in the easternmost part of Madhesh Province, is one of the List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal. Its district headquarter is Rajbiraj. Saptari is an Terai#Outer Terai, Outer Terai district. This dist ...

to Dhanilal Yadav and Phudani Devi Yadav on 12 November 1960. He grew up in Madhuwan and completed his SLC examinations there in 1975. He completed his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

from Hattisar College in

Dharan Dharan () is a sub-metropolitan city in Sunsari District of Koshi Province, in eastern Nepal, which was established as a fourth municipality in the Kingdom in 1958. It is the third most populous city in eastern Nepal after Biratnagar and I ...

and his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus in

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a List of cities in Nepal, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Koshi Province. With a Metropolitan Urban Agglomeration population of 244,750 as per the 2021 Nepal census, 2021 census, it is the largest c ...

Political career

Yadav was involved in protests against the panchayat system as far back as 1975. He was involved in the 1979 student protests and was arrested in

and was imprisoned for fourth months. He was also arrested in 1985 at Kathmandu and imprisoned for a year for participating in 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 ...

'' organized by

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 ...

. Yadav joined the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in 1991 and contested for the House of Representatives from Sunsari 4 in the same year. He gained 8,672 votes but finished a distant second. He served as the district leader of

Sunsari Sunsari District is one of 14 districts in Koshi province of eastern Nepal. The district is located in the eastern part of the Outer Terai and covers an area of . According to the 2011 Nepal census, the population was 753,328. The district head ...

and Morang district during his time in the party. He resigned from the party in 1997.

Madheshi Jana Adhikar Forum: 1997–2015

He founded the Madheshi Jana Adhikar Forum in the mid-1990s along with

leader Jay Prakash Gupta as a non-governmental organization that advocated for Madheshi rights. After leaving CPN (UML) Yadav had become an alternate central committee member of CPN (Maoist). In February 2004 Yadav was arrested in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

along with Maoist party members Matrika Yadav and Mohan Baidya. He was released after two months while the others were handed over to Nepalese authorities in 2006.

Madhesh movement

He was again arrested on 16 January 2007 in Kathmandu along with MP Amaresh Kumar Singh and a dozen others after they burned copies of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 after it did not address the issue of

federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...

and greater political representation from 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 ...

in the parliament and the

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 ...

. Following mass protests and indefinite strikes in the

Terai region 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 ...

organized by his party, the government agreed to amend the interim constitution and on 12 April 2007, Nepal turned into a federal republic.

Constituent Assembly

He registered the organization as a political party on 26 April 2007 to contest the constituent assembly elections. He was elected to the

1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly The first Nepalese Constituent Assembly was a unicameral body of 601 members that served from May 28, 2008, to May 28, 2012. It was formed as a result of the first Constituent Assembly election held on April 10, 2008. The Constituent Assembly ( ...

from Sunsari 5 at the 2008 elections. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in a coalition government with the CPN (Maoist) from August 2008 to May 2009 and again in a coalition government with CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in 2011. After

Bijay Kumar Gachhadar Bijay Kumar Gachhadar (; born 1 February 1954) is a Nepalese politician and leader of the Nepali Congress. He has served five terms as deputy prime minister of Nepal under the government of Madhav Kumar Nepal, Baburam Bhattarai, KP Sharma Ol ...

split away from the party to form Madheshi Jana Adhikar Forum (Loktantrik), Yadav served as the parliamentary party leader of the MJF. He was also a member of the State Affairs Committee of the

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 ...

. He retained his seat in the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly from Sunsari 5 at the 2013 elections. He served as the parliamentary party leader of MJF and also served as a member of the Constitutional-Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee.

National politics: since 2015

On 15 June 2015, his party merged with Federal Socialist Party and Khas Samabesi Party to form the Federal Socialist Forum. He served as co-chairman of the new party along with Rajendra Prasad Shrestha. He contested the 2017 elections to 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 Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from Saptari 2 and was elected. He was a member of the Education and Health Committee of the

. He served as the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

in a coalition government with the

Nepal Communist Party 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 Left-wing politics, leftist parties, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified M ...

from June 2018 to December 2019. His party merged with the

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 ...

in 2020 to form the People's Socialist Party. He served as co-chairman of the party with Mahantha Thakur until Thakur split off to form the

Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal The Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal () is the tenth largest political party in Nepal. The party has a significant presence in Madhesh Province and Lumbini Province of Nepal. The party's election symbol is a bicycle. The party was officially r ...

. Yadav contested the 2022 elections to the House of Representatives from Saptari 2 again but lost to Janamat Party chairman Chandra Kant Raut by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

Criticism

Yadav has been accused of being linked to Hindu extremist groups and in December 2006 publicly supported the notion of Nepal as a Hindu nation at a program of right-wing Hindu groups in Gorakhpur, India. A month after the incident, he was leading the protests in support of turning Nepal into a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

federal republic A federal republic is a federation of Federated state, states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected re ...

. He has also been accused of focusing on

Yadav Yadavs are a grouping of non-elite, peasant-pastoral Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states l ...

s instead of the greater Madheshi community. He was criticized by some for supporting

candidate Ram Baran Yadav instead of CPN (Maoist) candidate Ram Raja Prasad Singh. Yadav had been criticized for the Gaur incident where dozens of CPN (Maoist) cadres were left dead following violent clashes with cadres of Madheshi Jana Adhikar Forum. Yadav was supposed to address a mass meeting of MJFN supporters in

Gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

, Rautahat, the Madhesh Mukti Morcha of CPN (Maoist) were also holding their rally at the same venue. MJF and Maoist supporters were engaged in clashes during the Madhesh movement and the Gaur incident was seen as retaliation for these clashes. Once a major activist for Madheshi people, Yadav has been criticized for forgetting Madhesh-centric issues as he became more active in national politics.

Personal life

Yadav is married to Parbati Yadav with whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. His son, Amarendra Yadav, contested the 2022 local elections for the deputy mayor of

but lost.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yadav, Upendra Living people 1960 births Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal politicians Ministers of foreign affairs of Nepal Madhesi people People from Biratnagar Indigenous rights activists Government ministers of Nepal Nepalese Hindus Nepal MPs 2017–2022 Deputy prime ministers of Nepal Members of the 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly Members of the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) politicians People's Socialist Party, Nepal politicians Health ministers of Nepal