- Ruplal Bishvakarma
Ruplal Bishvakarma (रूपलाल विश्वकर्मा) was a
Nepal ese communist politician, peasant leader andDalit activist. Ruplal hailed from a middle peasant family in theChitwan district. Something of an oddity amongst Nepalese communist leaders, Ruplal belonged to aShudra caste . [Rawal, Bhim Bahadur. "Nepalma samyabadi andolan: udbhab ra vikas". Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan. p. 95]Ruplal led the "Kisan Samiti" (Peasants Association)Rawal, Bhim Bahadur. "Nepalma samyabadi andolan: udbhab ra vikas". Kathmandu: Pairavi Prakashan. Chart nr. 1.] , which fought against feudal landlords and agitated small farmers to seize crops from the landlords. Ruplal is credited with having introduced
Pushpa Kamal Dahal (a.k.a Prachanda) to militant politics in the 1970s. [http://www.nepalnews.com.np/contents/englishdaily/ktmpost/2003/apr/apr08/index.htm Kathmandu Post] ]In 1976 Ruplal's group took part in the formation of the
Nepal Workers Peasants Organisation . When the NWPO split in 1983, Ruplal joined the NWPO faction led by Hareram Sharma. Soon, however he broke away from that organisation. Together withProletarian Communist League he founded theProletarian Workers Organisation , of which he became the leader.During the 1990 popular uprising Ruplal's group took part in the far-left
United National People's Movement . [Hoftun, Martin, William Raeper and John Whelpton. People, politics and ideology: Democracy and Social Change in Nepal. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point, 1999. p. 119] After the democratic opening, his faction merged with some of the other participants of the UNPM in forming theCommunist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) .When the CPN(UC) was ravaged by internal strife in 1994, Bishvakarma stood on the side of
Nirmal Lama . Lama and Bishvakarma argued that the time was not ripe for the party to embark on an armed uprising. He was opposed by his former adept, Prachandra, who became the leading figure in the pro-armed struggle camp. The party was divided in two, with the radical wing led by Prachandra starting to mobilise for 'People's War'.Ruplal later broke with CPN(UC), and formed his own
Nepal Dalit Shramik Morcha , which took part in the 1999 election campaigning for rights for lower caste people. [ [http://www.edu.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/private/tanigawa/npl/archives/representative2.pdf Tanigawa, Masyuki. "Nepalese Representative Government in the 1990s"] ]References
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