Bhattarai's wife also rises, becomes minister

Bhattarai's wife also rises, becomes minister

Comrade Parvati becomes minister
By HT
Monday April 2, 01:57 AM
The journey has been long for her - from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi to Nepal's interim government. Wife of senior Maoist leader Baburam Bhattarai, Nepal's new Physical Planning minister Hisila Yami alias Comrade Parvati is likely to draw a lot of attention of both the local and international media.

Strong follower of the home-grown Marxism-Leninism-Maoism movement, Yami is one of the five Maoist ministers who were inducted into the interim government on Sunday. She is also a politburo member of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and president of the All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary). Political analysts find Yami as one of the most important members in the interim cabinet, who guides herself by the principles of socialism. But, her long journey to Nepal's cabinet has been a difficult one.

Baptised to politics in Jawarharlal Nehru University, Comrade Parvati admits to have learnt the nuances of Marxism in New Delhi. After graduating from the School of Planning and Architecture in 1982, she returned to Kathmandu with a lot of hope to bring about changes in Nepal's political theatre based on her strong socialistic philosophies. During the pro-democracy movement in 1990, Yami was one of the most high-profile women leaders in Nepal and took active part in the protests. She has always been the "strength" beside her Maoist leader husband, Baburam Bhattarai.

After the split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) in 1994, Bhattarai found Nepal's Maoist outfit, and with Prachanda and Yami went underground in 1996 to bring about political change. Comrade Parvati made her first public appearance on June 18, 2003, during the then ongoing peace negotiations between the government and the Maoists. Her rise in Maoist organisation has also not been a smooth ride for her.

In 2005, along with husband Bhattarai and another senior Maoist leader Dina Nath Sharma, Yami was removed from the party politburo. However, she was reinstated into the politburo within a couple of months. Mother of a teenage daughter and a prolific writer (both in Nepali and English), the new Physical Planning minister is now likely to bring about progress in some of the areas which have been under-developed during the 238-year-old monarchy.