Submit your Article

Birth: 28 April 1940, Dillibazar
Death: 6 February 2022, Dhumbarahi

Prem Krishna Pathak, a political revolutionary and trusted aide of BP Koirala during the anti-Panchayat movement, died on February 6. He was 82. In his political career, Pathak was with various political parties, including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. He was a member of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal at the time of his passing.  

Besides politics, Pathak also practiced law and in 1977 served as the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Born during the Rana rule, Pathak was only 10 when he took part in his first political protest against the oppressive regime. The brutality displayed by the Ranas against the champions of democracy had left an indelible impression on his psyche. Young Pathak learned the importance of revolution when the 104-year absolute Rana rule ended in 1951, after which he would become a lifelong revolutionary.       

He cut his teeth in politics as a Nepali Congress cadre. After king Mahendra launched a coup on 15 December 1960, he was arrested along with Koirala and several other NC members. Pathak was released after months of imprisonment, even while Koirala would remain in jail until 1968 before being forced into self-exile in India.

Following his release, Pathak continued to take part in the anti-Panchayat movement. Political parties were banned and their leaders were either forced underground or arrested. It was Pathak who united different student unions under the banner of Janajagriti Sangh, which further spurred the democratic movement. Under his command, the students of the movement interrupted a gathering of the pro-Panchayat students. The incident encouraged more students to join anti-Panchayat protests.  

Pathak became a respected NC member, liked and trusted by party cadres and leaders alike. It was at his Old Baneshwar home that party leaders including Koirala used to surreptitiously meet.

A true revolutionary, Pathak was never content; he was always in need of a cause to fight for or against. Disaffected with the NC, he left the party several times, including in 1979, protesting Koirala’s policy of national reconciliation.

In the 1990 people’s movement, Pathak was at the forefront of the protests. He then made a radical switch by joining a communist force, Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist), which later became Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist).

But Pathak would then go on to leave the CPN-UML over the party’s position on the issue of identity and representation. He quit along with the faction led by Ashok Rai to form the Samajbadi Party, which itself has undergone many divisions and is today known as Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal (JSPN).     

The first-ever central committee meeting of JSPN on 18 August 2021 bestowed on Pathak the title of ‘Krantiyoddha’, which means revolutionary fighter.

Pathak died on Feb 6 after being rushed to a hospital following a stroke.  

Pathak is survived by his wife, Hiranya Kumari, their son, Kalyan Pathak, and daughter, Namrata Sharma.

Birth: 1943, Nepalgunj

Death: 3 February 2022, Nepalgunj

Mohan Singh KC, a founding member of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), passed away on the morning of February 3. He was 78. His demise has caused an irreparable loss to the party and the country, RPP said in a statement.

Rishi Raj Devkota, assistant general secretary of RPP, remembers KC as a true nationalist and the party’s custodian.

“He was a simple man at heart who never let his position affect his attitude,” says Devkota. “He conducted himself as an ordinary member of society. He lived a middle-class life and that was all he wanted.”

Born and raised in Nepalgunj, Banke, KC entered the world of politics in his early youth. He rubbed shoulders with influential political figures of the time, learning the ropes of politics and eventually joining the democratic movement during the Panchayat period.

KC was among the founding members of RPP when the party was established in 1990. He went on to become RPP Banke district chairman and the party’s central committee member.

As a politician KC held great sway in Banke, which he used for the district’s development. He played a major role in building road networks in Nepalgunj and other parts of Banke.

KC is also remembered as a leader with a solid moral compass and a champion of justice devoted to ending all forms of social discriminations.

RPP merged with its splinter RPP-Nepal in 2016 and KC was once again elected a central member of the unified party. But he was unable to remain active in politics, owing to his poor health.

KC had long been living with various health issues like diabetes, hypertension and kidney problems. He died at Nepalgunj Medical College and Teaching Hospital, where he was admitted following health complications.

RPP General Secretary Dr. Dhawal Shumsher Rana, Assistant General Secretary Devkota and District Chairman Narendra Poudel were among the leaders who paid their tributes to KC by draping the party’s flag over his dead body.

KC is survived by a son and a daughter.

A person of high integrity who placed the values of law and justice above all, Mohan Prasad Sharma, a former Supreme Court chief justice, passed away at his Kamalpokhari residence on January 19. He was 88. In his almost 40-year-long career in law, Sharma was credited for working tirelessly to establish an independent judiciary.

Born to a middle-class family in Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu, Sharma was a dedicated student from the start. For him education was important and he prioritized his studies above all else. He found himself interested in law during his student years and aspired to leave a mark in the field.

Sharma joined a government office in 1959 when he was 25. After two years in the job, in 1961, he entered Singhadurbar as a section officer at the Ministry of Law and Justice. He became a governmental lawyer and, after that, the regional judge of the Appellate court (High Court). He then became the main justice of the Appellate court, and later a judge in the Supreme Court.

On 13 April 1998, Sharma was appointed as the 12th Chief Justice of Nepal by the then King Birendra. During his term as the CJ, he played a vital role in the development of Nepal's judicial system. For instance, he initiated hearings on injustices at the level of the Village Development Committees. He was also a strong advocate of women’s rights. 

Also read: Laxmi Das Manandhar obituary: Salt king to school reformer

Sharma was a soft-spoken, intelligent, and sociable person, but nonetheless a formidable figure in the court. His reserved disposition and work ethics inspired and guided his colleagues and successors alike. Sharma’s term in the Supreme Court ended on 15 December 1999.

Girish Chandra Lal, a former Supreme Court justice, remembers Sharma as a just and honorable individual who worked without any bias or prejudice.

“I had known him since my time as a high court judge. I remember him as a loyal and dauntless person who was without any bias or prejudice both in and outside the court,” says Lal.

To honor Sharma and his legacy, the Supreme Court, high courts, district courts, and special courts across the country were closed on the day of his funeral, which took place on January 23.

Sharma is survived by his son and daughter.

Birth: 16 December 1934, Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu

Death: 19 January 2022, Kamalpokhari, Kathmandu

Birth: 18 November 1928, Kathmandu

Death: 21 January 2022, Kathmandu

Laxmi Das Manandhar was one of the seven salt traders selected to establish Nepal’s first public salt trading center, the Salt Trading Corporation Limited, in Kalimati, Kathmandu.

Not only a businessman and industrialist, Manandhar was also an educationist and social worker who made significant contributions as a National Assembly member.

Born as the youngest son to Purna Maya Manandhar and Laxmi Narayan Manadhar in Thahity, Kathmandu, Manandhar learned ­to read and write at his uncle’s house and continued his formal education until middle school. At the age of 15, he started working as a telephone operator at a call center in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu.

Coming from a Newar family with a business background, he knew the tricks of the trade early on. In 1950, he visited India and started importing salt to Nepal. He was into the business to sustain his family when the government took notice.

Also read: Kumar Subba obituary: The crooner from Darjeeling

Manandhar, from the very beginning, aimed at extending salt trading as he knew salt was one ingredient no kitchen is complete without, and therefore, should be easily accessible and affordable. In 1963 the Salt Trading Corporation Limited was established with partial investment of the government and support of other public and private salt traders.

Alongside, he started another small business of importing clothes from Japan to sell them in Nepal. In 1960, this small venture transitioned into Nepal’s first sock-manufacturing company called ‘Badhchap’, helping the country be self-reliant on socks. It had also become a household brand loved by locals.

From 1973-86, Manandhar, through the corporation, established a number of businesses and industries in Bhairahawa such as a petrol pump, Siddhartha Cold Storage, Nepal Plastic Industry, and Siddhartha Food Industry, among others, which are still in operation.

He served as a working committee member of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, an umbrella body of Nepali businesses. He later held the posts of treasurer and adviser of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Business was in his blood but his destiny took Manandhar into politics. He had been indirectly involved with Bampanthi (leftist) politics since 1958. In 1991, he had become a common candidate in the National Assembly election but was defeated. But 10 years later, in 2000, he got elected into the National Assembly representing the CPN-UML.

Besides politics, Manadhar was also an educationist and a social worker. In 1950, he became a founding member of Shanti Siksha Mandir School in Thahity. He also founded and became the Chairman of People’s Campus in Thamel, Kathmandu.

In his lifetime, he traveled to over 40 countries, carrying the responsibility of promoting Nepal. He was honored with several awards from national and international organizations for his efforts.

Manandhar breathed his last on 21 January 2022 at his home in Kathmandu. He was 93. Someone who made a significant contribution to Nepal’s economic development, his legacy will be carried on by the establishments he leaves behind.