Keshar Jung Rayamajhi

Who is Keshar Jung Rayamajhi?

Keshar Jung Rayamajhi was a Nepalese politician. He was a leading figure in the communist movement in the country, but later turned into a royalist. Rayamajhi hails from a landlord Chetri family in Tansen, Palpa district.

In 1947 Rayamajhi became a founding member of the Nepalese 'Marxist Study Circle' in Calcutta. In 1948, the group was reconstructed as the 'Progressive Study Circle' and Rayamajhi became its secretary. During his stay in Calcutta, Rayamajhi's political mentor was the CPI leader Ratna Lal Brahmin.

At the first congress of the Communist Party of Nepal, held in 1954, Rayamajhi was elected to the Central Committee of the party. In September 1956, the general secretary of the party, Manmohan Adhikari, travelled to China to take part in the congress of the Communist Party of China. As Pushpa Lal Shrestha and D.P. Adhikari declined to take the role of acting general secretary, Rayamajhi expressed his interest in taking over as acting general secretary of the party. Directly after Rayamajhi became acting general secretary of the party, groupism began to appear amongst the party ranks. The party became divided into a reformist camp and a revolutionary camp.