Pampha Bhusal

Ms. Bhusal was born in July 1963 in Aapkhola, Kimdada, a remote village in Arghakhanchi District.[3] In the village not having a male child was a social stigma. Her parents had five daughters and endured humiliation and name calling from relatives and villagers alike. This discrimination against girls left Bhusal with deep scars. In her own words, “There was extreme discrimination against a girl and I endured it in every step of the way. I would do the best in the class; people would say she is like a boy. I stood first in the whole school; people said how come she is like a boy. I would participate in social activities; people would say why she is doing a boy’s job. I did not like it. Why would they not accept my achievements as those of a girl? Why could a girl not do what a boy can? I rejected it. I was prepared to fight against it, and perhaps this is what started me on a revolutionary’s path.”[4] In the whole village few families had horses and radios. She used to ride horse and listen radio, like a typical boy. In an interview she said, “I used to listen news in the radio, particularly about woman leaders like Golda Meir from Israel, Simiravo Bandaranaike from Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi from India. The social context of those days in the village had made me a revolutionary, a feminist. However, I became very happy when my mother finally gave birth to a boy, my brother. It used to hurt me to see my parents being humiliated by the villagers for not being able to give birth to a boy.”

Financially, her family was relatively better off in the village. People used to come to borrow money from her parents. Ms. Bhusal noticed that the borrowers could not pay back the loan but would pay interest year after year; sometimes the accumulated interest would be more than the principal. She requested her parents to exonerate poor borrowers from their loans; they agreed. However, they did not publicly announce it, nor they asked the borrowers to pay back. Most of the loans were effectively forgiven and it was done without any publicity.[5]

In those days the society did not approve of sending girls to school. Instead, they believed if a girl child is married off, the mother would give birth to a boy. Till then, all of her siblings were girls and the parents desperately wanted a boy. So, both of her elder sisters were married off when they were just 8 years old. But Ms. Bhusal insisted in going to school, and her parents, particularly the mother supported. Despite social pressure, the parents wanted their children, although girls, to study. She got admitted in Janta Primary School. She was one of the three girls in the entire school. Every time she completed a grade, neighbors would argue that she did not need to go to school any more. But Ms. Bhusal insisted in continuing her education against all odds. She would walk two hours to go to her school, endure social humiliation, but nothing stopped her. With her parents’ support she succeeded. She completed School Leaving Certificate Examination in 1979 from Jana Jyoti High School. And she decided to college.[6]

For further education, she had to go to Kathmandu, and parents were not comfortable to send her daughter alone far away from home. This was a major obstacle, and not easy to overcome. But her determination finally won, “I cried. I stopped eating. Effectively I was on hunger strike until I was allowed to go to Kathmandu.” In Kathmandu she got admitted in IOE, Pulchowk Engineering Campus[7] as the only girl from her district going for an engineering education. She completed a diploma in engineering from IOE, Pulchowk Campus and studied commerce from Shankar Dev Campus. She also completed a bachelor's degree in education from Kirtipur Campus and a master's degree in sociology from Tribhuvan University.[8]

She entered in student politics in 1977 when she was studying at 8th grade, and just four years later in 1981 she took active membership of the Communist Party of Nepal. About her political grooming she says, “Our school was influenced by leftist ideology, and I liked it because it did not discriminate between boys and girls. It also was against various unjust practices prevailing in the society. I became a member of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU), which was banned under the Panchayat regime. Later in 1986 I became the Central Committee Member of ANNFSU. This student association was influenced by leftist leaders. With guidance from Mr. Tanka Bhusal, who was martyred under Panchayat regime, I read books on Marxism. I also read books on liberation of women (including one from Mod Nath Prashrit). I realized that all discriminations can be overcome only through politics, and I decided to join political movement and become a communist.”

In 1981 students organized a protest against rising prices of common goods. Ms. Bhusal, in a speech, declared, “The main reason for such a price hike is the Palace (the King)”. She was arrested, and this was her first journey to a jail; many more followed later. In the subsequent 15 years (from 1981 to 1995), in her struggle against the autocratic rule of the king, she was arrested and jailed several times; even during the prime ministership of Mana Mohan Adhikari, a communist leader who led the Government under constitutional monarchy.

In 1982 she became the general secretary of the prestigious All Nepal Women’s association (Akhil Nepal Mahila Sangh)[9] chaired by Parijat, the legendary writer and novelist. In the ensuing decade, she played active roles in the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) – fourth Convention, CPN – Mashal, CPN – Unity Center, Samyukta Janamorcha and CPN – Maoist Center. She was the chairperson of Samyukta Janamorcha, thus becoming the first female politician in Nepal to lead a political party.

In 1996 the CPN (Maoist) started the people’s war. To effectively manage the civil war, a central committee of 19 members was constituted under the leadership of Chairman Prachanda,[10] and Ms. Bhusal was the only female member of the committee. She went underground and fought the war until the peace negotiations.

When the Maoists come to the peace process, she became a member of the Maoist Negotiating Team led by Chairman Prachanda. As a result of the peace negotiation, an interim government was formed headed by Late Girija Prasad Koirala,[11] in which Ms. Bhusal became the Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare. In the first constitutional assembly election held in 2008 she contested from Latitpur constituency number 3 and won the election in a landslide victory. Subsequently, she became the Minister of General Administration in the first republican government led by Chairman Prachanda[12] as the Prime Minister. She also became the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction in the cabinet led by Jhala Nath Khanal.[13]

While in the government and as a citizen, Ms. Bhusal has played significant leadership role in various development activities in the country, which has earned her a name: the development loving leader. She is always busy solving peoples’ day-to-day problems, including expanding and building roads and bridges; improving drinking water, irrigation and drainage systems; expanding access to quality education to underprivileged children and so on. During the constitution drafting process she led her party in various parliamentary committees such as Governance and Election Process Committee, and argued in favor of proportional representation of all ethnicity, religious groups and women in the parliament. She also furthered the agenda on direct election of the executive president and/or the prime minister. While serving on Rajya Byabestha Samiti she influenced decisions in favor of good governance and fought against corruption.