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Kathmandu, Dec 14:  As Nepal observes 76 years since the Nepal Communist Party was founded, the CPN UML, now the central force of the country’s communist movement, has convened its 11th National General Convention after a history marked by splits, mergers, and organizational shifts.

The Nepal Communist Party was established on April 22, 1949 (Baisakh 10, 2006 BS) under Pushpa Lal Shrestha, with founding members including Niranjan Govind Baidya, Nar Bahadur Karmacharya, Narayan Bilas Joshi, and Moti Devi Shrestha. The party originated from a small house at 28 Navin Sarkar Lane, Shyam Bazar, Kolkata, India. Since then, the communist movement in Nepal has continued to grow, branching into multiple parties and ideological streams.

The emergence of the Nepali communist movement came 102 years after the Communist Manifesto and 32 years after the Soviet Union’s October Revolution. At that time, India had already achieved independence, China was on the verge of Mao Zedong’s revolution, and Nepalis were striving to overthrow the 104-year-long Rana autocracy.

The first party convention took place in January 1954 in Patan, Lalitpur, electing Man Mohan Adhikari as general secretary. The second followed in May 1957 at Darbar Marg, Kathmandu, with Dr Keshar Jung Rayamajhi assuming the post, sparking debates over democracy versus monarchy. Subsequent conventions shaped the party through the Panchayat era and multiparty democracy restoration. The fourth convention in 1989 elected Madan Kumar Bhandari, who later introduced the People’s Multiparty Democracy doctrine at the fifth convention in 1993, which remains UML’s guiding principle.

Leadership transitions continued with Man Mohan Adhikari, Madhav Kumar Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, and KP Sharma Oli taking charge at various conventions. Recent years saw a separation of policy, statute, and leadership conventions, including the first statute convention in 2021 and the second in 2025, which removed age and term limits for party leaders.

The 11th National General Convention opened today in Sallaghari, Bhaktapur, with the closed session scheduled at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. Its slogan, “Our resolve is to build a decisive national force, our destination is a prosperous Nepal and happy Nepalis,” underscores UML’s ambition to strengthen its political influence while honoring its historic legacy.

People’s News Monitoring Service