A Versatile Dalit Leader

Tribhuvan Chandra Wagle

Founding Member of NC

Dhan Man remained active in politics, representing the Nepali Congress (NC) from 2003 BS onwards. As such, we may regard him as one of the founding members of the Nepali Congress, the oldest democratic political party in the nation.  

It is worth noting that Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Rastriya Congress was established on 31 October 1954 in Teliyabagh of Varanasi with the active participation of Nepali youths who were then living in different parts of India. Before its establishment, an appeal was published in The Search Light, a newspaper set up in Patna by BP Koirala, urging Nepalese youths to establish such a political party. Devi Prasad Sapkota, a friend of Krishna Prasad Koiralac(father of BP Koirala) was selected as chairperson of the Congress. In the dawn of 1947 (January 25-26), an extended conference was held in Bhawanipur in Kolkata to spread information and messages regarding the policy and programme of the Rastriya Congress. 

BP Koirala, Dilli Raman Regmi and Dhan Man Singh Pariyar took part in the conference while they were in India. Ganesh Man Singh, Surya Prasad Bharadwaj, and Sundar Prasad Chalise travelled to India from Nepal to take part in the conference. The Bhawanipur Conference changed the name of Akhil Bhartiya Nepali Rastriya Congress to Nepali Rastriya Congress. 

On 26 Chaitra 2006BS, a joint general conference of Akhil Bhartiya Nepali Rastriya Congress and Nepali Rastriya Congress was held in Kolkata that later merged which paved the way for the formation of the Nepali Congress. 

BP Koirala was chosen as the executive chairperson of the newly formed party while Tanka Prasad Acharya, who was in prison in Kathmandu then, was selected as the honorable\ceremonial president. 

As Dhan Man Singh Pariyar had participated in the historical meeting and conference of the present day Nepali Congress, we can call him a founding member of the oldest party that has waged various struggles for establishing democracy in Nepal. 

Founder Members of Akhil Bhartiya Nepali Rastriya Congress:

Devi Prasad Sapkota - Chairperson

Balachandran Sharma-Vice Chairperson

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai - General Secretary 

Gopal Prasad Bhattarai - Secretary for Communication

Batuk Prasad Bhattarai -Member

Narayan Prasad Bhattarai - Member

Narendra Regmi - Member

Members that participated  in the Kolkata conference (Nepali Rastriya Congress) 

BP Koirala

Ganesh Man Singh

Dilli Raman Regmi

Surya Prasad Upaddhya

Sundar Prasad Chalise 

Dhan Man Singh Pariyar

Dhan Man Singh Pariyar fought for democracy in the capacity of posts and by involving in different platforms. He was the first Dalit personality who achieved a higher post, i.e. general secretary of the Nepali Congress. It is worth remembering that no Dalit member of our society has achieved such a prestigious position from any political party in the history of Nepal until Dhan Man became NC's general secretary. 

According to Shree Bhadra Sharma, former General Secretary of Nepali Congress, Pariyar and Rajeshwori Prasad Upaddhya were jointly appointed as the party General Secretary by the 9th general convention (Janakapur convention) of Nepali Congress. Ganesh Pariyar (BS 1990-2060), a pioneer Dalit leader of Kaski and the then member of the National Dalit Commission, maintained that Dhan Man Singh was seriously involved in reorganising  Dalit communities in the western part of the country under his leadership. Pariganit People (Dalit) was established in Pokhara under the initiation of Dhan Man. Samar Bahadur Bhitrikoti, a freedom fighter involved in Janakranti-2007, informed that Dhan Man was active in Pokhara and the western region to strengthen the Congress organisation and also to establish schools for the poor and so on. 

The Nepali Congress and its leader BP Koirala held positive views for uplifting marginalised people, women, backward communities and Dalits as well. BP wanted to make his party a common platform for such groups of people. Dwarika Devi Thakurani, Dhan Man Singh Pariyar, Divya Bikram Pariyar, Dr Ram Bhajan Paswan and other leaders from the marginalised section were given important roles in the party.  

They were the true examples of inclusiveness in Nepalese politics. It was an exemplary step for contemporary Nepal, political parties and its leaders.   Divya Bikram Pariyar, Dr Jhaman Ram Paswan, and Kishan Dusad fought for democracy under the leadership of Koirala. Similarly, Dwarika Devi Thakurani took part in the democratic movement and awareness campaign for women in the far western region of Nepal.  Koirala, the first elected Prime Minister of Nepal, appointed Thakurani as the Assistant Minister in his first cabinet after the first general election of 2015, making her the first female minister in Nepal. 

From Eastern Nepal 

Due to the lack of detailed information on Dhan Man Singh, we have to depend on some claims, quotes and sayings of his friends or a few writers.  Ganesh Pariyar, an intimate friend of Dhan Man, maintained that Dhan Man was born around 1974 BS. 

Former Member of Parliament Man Bahadur Bishwokarma (2006- 2069BS) who hailed from Parbat district believed that some past ancestors of Dhan Man could have migrated to Darjeeling from the eastern district of Nepal, where he was born. Purushottam Basnet, a scholar on the history of the Nepali Congress, claimed that Dhan Man and his family members were permanent residents of Betali, Ramechhap. 

However, Dhan Man became an active member of the Nepali Congress representing Saptari as his home district. Basnet also claimed that Dhan Man and Devbrat Pariyar, Director of the first Nepali language movie, Styaharishchandra, were relatives. 

In 2014 BS, Dhan Man Pariyar joined Samanantar Nepali Congress after leaving the mother party, the Nepali Congress along with Naradmuni Thulung, Gopal Prasad Bhattarai (elder brother of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai), Hridayaraj Sharma, Bharatmani Sharma and Tek Bahadur Panthi. 

After the royal takeover of power in 2017 BS, some of them came back to the Congress. But Pariyar joined the Panchayat being nominated a member of the Rastriya Panchyat, the then parliament, in 2019BS. He was nominated in Rastriya Panchyat for two consecutive tenure under two names, Dhan Man Singh Pariyar for the first time, and DM Pariyar for the second. 

Dhan Man had a versatile personality. He is known as a short story writer, contemporary writer/ analyst and journalist. As far as this scribe knows, he is the first journalist in Nepal from the Dalit community. Balshakha, an organisation for children, was established under Dhan Man's chairmanship. It was a special wing of the Nepali Congress for children. Balhsakha was later changed to Bal Sangathan which late came to be known as Nepal Bal Sangathan. 

A magazine, Balshakha, was published under his editorship in 2008 BS, which proves that Dhan Man is the first journalist from the Dalit community. According to Samar Bahadur Bhitrikoti, Dhan Man passed away around 2029-30 BS due to tuberculosis (TB). His neck was crooked, which might have been caused by a disease.  

(A journalist, Wagle writes on Dalit issues)