Kamal Thapa

Kamal Thapa (कमल थापा; born 4 August 1955) is a Nepalese politician belonging to Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal.

Thapa, has served as a Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Affairs and Local Development.

Thapa is also the president of Nepal's Hindu nationalist party, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal.

Kamal Thapa was born on 4 August 1955 in Kathmandu.

He was born to a family with an army background.

His father Chhatra Bahadur Thapa was a Colonel in the Royal Nepal Army while his mother was a homemaker.

He has two brothers and five sisters.

His elder brother is Lt General (Retd) Netra Bahadur Thapa while his younger brother is former President of All Nepal Football Association Ganesh Thapa, who has been involved in the development of football as a professional sport in Nepal.

Kamal Thapa represented Nepal as a football player having played for Narayani Zone and Sankata Boys Sports Club.

He also became the captain of the National Football Team.

Kamal Thapa started his career as the president of National Student Organization during 1973–74.

In 1977, he was the Assistant Lecturer for Political Economy in Institute of Forestry under Tribhuwan University, Nepal.

He also served as the president of All Nepal Football Association (1978–87) and as member of National Sports Council (1977–1987).

He was the member of Constitution Reform Commission in 1980.

He has also been the member secretary of Central Committee of National Youth Service Fund.

He was also a cabinet member during the Panchayat rule, rising to the hold portfolios in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Local Development and Ministry of Housing and Physical Planning.

He was also the executive member of Asian Football Confederation (1982–1990).

Currently, he is the chairman of newly formed Rastriya Prajatantra Party.

Kamal Thapa is known to have a good relationship with ex-monarch Gyanendra Shah, as Kamal Thapa actively took part in the government as homeminister under Shah.

But, Gyanendra Shah and Kamal Thapa have never been spotted together publicly after Nepal became a republic.

Kamal Thapa still voices for the need of Kingship in a country like Nepal where there are diverse group of people.

Thapa states -" I do not voice for king but rather for royal institution (राजसंस्था ) ".

In his statement-"म राजा होइन राजसंस्थाको कुरा गरिरहेको छु"

He was the member of Parliament during 1986–1990 and 1995–1998.

He was the spokesman for Rastriya Prajatantra Party (1992–2002) and general secretary in 2003.

He was also a national level football player in his early days.

He served as a Home Minister during King Gyanendra's direct rule in 2006 until the king was forced to handover power to Girija Prasad Koirala of the Nepali Congress Party and his allies with Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Thapa claimed that no political parties in Nepal have the courage to safeguard Nepali nationality, claiming: "Now the onus lies only with the institution of monarchy to safeguard Nepali sovereignty and national unity."

He had also challenged the government to re-investigate the royal massacre: "Those blaming former King Gyanendra Shah for the massacre are now holding power in the government. I challenge them to track down the guilty."

RPP-N organised bandh (Close Down) on 22 February 2010 as part of its agitation demanding timely promulgation of constitution, end of current problems like load shedding and the current political deadlock and referendum on some key issues to be incorporated in the new constitution including constitutional monarchy, Hindu nation and federalism.

Kamal Thapa belongs to the Suyal Thapa clan.

He holds the office of deputy prime minister of Nepal in cabinet of Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli on 12 October 2015.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party was established on 15th Jestha, 2047 B.S. with an objective of providing an alternative democratic force to the nation.

Nationalism, democracy and liberalism have remained as the three main ideological pillars of the party.

Similarly, sovereignty of the people, competitive multi-party democracy, constitutional monarchy and the principle of rule of law are the political belief of the party.

Despite having common agreement on major political issues, unfortunately, due to some technical differences two separate organizations with identical name, ideology and statute came into existence on the same day.

Two RPPs contested the general election of 2048 B.S. separately.

Obviously the results were not encouraging.

Following the serious debacle in the election, under the pressure of party workers two RPPs decided to merge.

RPP held its first general convention in 2050 B.S. in Kathmandu, and unanimously elected former prime-minister Surya Bahadur Thapa as chairman.