Dr. Baburam Bhattarai (born 26 May 1954) is a Nepalese communist. He is a senior Standing Committee Member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which began fighting a revolutionary People's War in Nepal in 1996.
Early childhood
Babu Ram Bhattrai was born in a village called Belbas in Khoplang VDC of Gorkha District. He was born in lower middle class peasant family of a higher Brahman caste. He has three sibilings one elder sister, one younger sister and one younger brother. He went to Amar Jyoti Janata Secondary School in Luintel, Gorkha, also known was the Luintel School.
Dr. Bhattarai had the highest score in the national School Leaving Certificate (SLC) in 1970. In 1972, he came first in the Intermediate Science exams. He received his Bachelors in Architecture (Honors)in 1977 from Chandigarh under the Colombo Plan Scholarship and his PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi)in 1986. His Ph.D. thesis was later published as a book "The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional Structure of Nepal- A Marxist Analysis".
Political career
Bhattarai became politically active during his student days in India. In 1977, he founded the All India Nepalese Students Association. He became active in the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal). As a prominent leader of CPN(Masal) he was the spokesperson of the United National People's Movement during the 1990 uprising. In 1991 he and a group around him broke away from CPN(Masal) and joined the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre).
Dr. Bhattarai then became the head of the Samyukta Janamorcha Nepal (United People's Front Nepal) - the political front of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) - in the parliament. When CPN(UC) split in 1994, Bhattarai sided with the hardline section (which later took the name CPN(M)), and he became the leader of the parallel SJM led by the Maoists.
Bhattarai became known throughout the country after the beginning of the Nepalese People's War due to frustration over continuous anti-democratic anti-people policies enforced by the monarchy through the constitutional monarchy system.
In early 2005, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai has reportedly been demoted within the Maoist ranks as a result of an internal party dispute about the prominence of Chairman Prachanda. Although he did not use the phrase, the substance of Bhattarai's complaints were that Prachanda was building a cult of personality around himself. Prachanda countered that Bhattarai was merely resentful of the decline of his own prominence.[1] However, in July the same year, he and Prachanda reportedly worked out their differences and Baburam's position was restored.[2]
Bhattarai was the Head of the International Department of the Party for a time and Convener of United Revolutionary People's Council, Nepal, an embryonic Central People's Government Organizing Committee.
Personal life
He is married to Hisila Yami. They have one daughter named Manushi Yami Bhattarai.
Publications
He has a number of publications to his credit, including The Nature of Underdevelopment and Regional structure of Nepal: A Marxist Analysis (Adroit Publishers, Delhi, 2003) which is a cursory rewriting of his PhD thesis. Other works include Politico-Economic Rationale of People's War in Nepal (Utprerak Publications, Kathmandu, 1998), and Nepal! krantika adharharu (in Nepali) (Janadisha Publications, 2004).