Madhav Kumar Nepal

Madhav Kumar Nepal (Nepali: माधवकुमार नेपाल, ⓘ; born 6 March 1953), is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served as prime minister from 25 May 2009 to 6 February 2011.

He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister along with the charges of important ministries like Foreign Affairs and Defence in the cabinet of Man Mohan Adhikari. He was previously the executive General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) for 15 years.

Since 18 August 2021, he has been serving as the joint coordinator of the Nepali Communist Party, a new party formed through merger of eight different communist parties and splinter groups. Madhav Kumar Nepal has received the Title Honor "Patron of Humanity" award from World Humanitarian Drive(WHD)

Madhav Kumar Nepal was born into a Brahmin family to Mangal Kumar and Durgadevi Upadhaya. He graduated in commerce from Tribhuvan University in 1973 and worked in banking and civil service before turning to full-time politics. He has two brothers, Binod Kumar Upadhyaya and Saroj Kumar Upadhyaya and three sisters, Kalika Bhandari, Indira Neupane and Basudha Pokharel.

Nepal joined the communist movement in 1969 (2026 B.S.). During the underground struggle, he used party names such as 'Subodh', 'Sunil', 'Ranjan' and 'Bibek'. In 1971, he became a district committee member of the Nepal Revolutionary Organisation (Marxist-Leninist). At a conference held in Biratnagar June 7–8, 1975, Nepal was elected as a bureau member of the All Nepal Communist Revolutionary Coordination Committee (Marxist-Leninist). When the ANCRCC (ML) founded the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) in 1978, Nepal was elected a politburo member of the new party.

He was the Deputy Prime Minister in the CPN (UML) minority government in 1994–1995 as well as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly during the 1990s. He argued for the Nepal Civil War to be solved through talks and did not believe that mobilization of the army was the solution and as the leader of CPN (UML), was one of the three key Nepali leaders, the other two being prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', crucial in bringing the Maoists into the peace process and signing the 12 point peace accords that ended the decade long war.

Nepal was arrested in 2001 during a crackdown on anti-government protest. Following the palace massacre he called for Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to step down, though later joined forces with him to launch a campaign against King Gyanendra's assumption of executive powers.

On 12 April 2008, Nepal resigned as General Secretary of the CPN (UML), after having lost the Kathmandu 2 seat to Maoist candidate Jhakku Prasad Subedi in the 2008 Constituent Assembly election. Subedi was a comparatively obscure candidate. Nepal was also defeated in Rautahat-6 constituency by Maoist candidate Devendra Patel. He later won both Kathmandu 2 and Rautahat 1 seats in the Second Constituent Assembly election of 2013. Nepal later chose Rautahat 1. He won the Kathmandu 2 constituency again in the 2017 general election by a margin of 14,000 votes.

In June 2008, the CPN (UML) proposed that Nepal become the country's first President, following the declaration of a republic, though the idea did not materialise after disagreement with the ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

He became the 34th Prime Minister of Nepal on 25 May 2009 after his predecessor Prachanda resigned over a conflict with the president over the dismissal of the army's chief of staff.

Nepal himself resigned as prime minister on 30 June 2010 in an effort to help the government move past its deadlock and to pave the way for a national consensus government, as demanded by the opposition.

Nepal returned to CPN (UML) after the Supreme court decision to dissolve the party merger between CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre). Since 18 August 2021, he has been serving as the chairman of the CPN (Unified-Socialist), a new party formed through split in CPN (UML) citing arrogance and monopoly of the party president KP Sharma Oli.

• 1990: Member, Constitution Drafting Commission
• 1991-1999: Member of the National Assembly
• 1991-1994: Leader of Opposition, National Assembly
• 1993-2008: General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML)
• 1994-1995: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1999-2002: Member of the House of Representatives from Rautahat-1
• 1999-2002: Leader of the Opposition, House of Representatives
• 2008-2013: Member of the Constituent Assembly from CPN (UML) party list
• 2009-2011: Prime Minister of Nepal
• 2013-2017: Member of the Legislative Parliament from Kathmandu-2
• 2017–2021: Member of the House of Representatives from Kathmandu-2

He is married to Gayatri Acharya. He has a son and a daughter, Saurav and Suman Nepal. There have been widespread rumorous claims that he adopted Christianity as his new faith and has been promoting conversion of Hindus to Christianity. However, he publicly and categorically denied any link with Christianity or having any role in expanding the activity of Christian missionaries in his country.

In June 2025, Nepal's anti-corruption agency, the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), filed a corruption case against former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and 92 others for approving illegal land acquisition by Patanjali Yogpeeth Nepal.

The CIAA accused Nepal's Cabinet of unlawfully approving 815 ropani of land in Kavrepalanchok to Patanjali during his tenure in 2010, exceeding legal limits, and later enabling commercial resale at inflated prices. The alleged scam caused a loss of over NPR 185 million to the state.

National and international media widely reported on the case. Indian outlets like The Indian Express and ANI News also covered the charges filed at Nepal's Special Court in Kathmandu.

Nepal has denied any wrongdoing and termed the charges politically motivated. Patanjali Yogpeeth and his party, CPN (Unified Socialist), also released statements defending the legality of the land transaction.

Nepal contested in 2022 election from Rautahat. He faced Ajay Kumar Gupta of CPN(UML) who previously lost as mayor of Gaur Municipality in the 2022 Nepalese local elections.

• 2021 split in Nepal Communist Party

• 2021 split in Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)

• Busky, Donald F (2002). Communism in History and Theory. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0-275-97733-1

• Hutt, Michael (2004). Himalayan "People's War". C. Hurst & Co Publishers. ISBN 1-85065-722-X

• Official website of CPN (US)

• Official website