Upendra Yadav

Upendra Yadav (; born 12 November 1960) is a Nepalese politician who has twice served as Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal and also as the chairman of the People's Socialist Party, Nepal from 2020 until 2023.

He was previously a Minister of Health and Population. He also served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Dahal cabinet from 2008 to 2009 and in the Khanal cabinet in 2011. Yadav lost an election in 2022, being defeated by Janamat Party chair CK Raut in Saptari 2 with a margin of 18,000 votes.

Early life and education Yadav was born in Bhagwatpur, Saptari to Dhanilal Yadav and Phudani Devi Yadav on 12 November 1960. He grew up in Madhuwan and completed his SLC examinations there in 1975. He completed his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Hattisar College in Dharan and his master's degree in law at Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus in Biratnagar.

Political career Yadav was involved in protests against the panchayat system as far back as 1975. He was involved in the 1979 student protests and was arrested in Biratnagar and was imprisoned for fourth months. He was also arrested in 1985 at Kathmandu and imprisoned for a year for participating in a Satyagraha organized by Nepali Congress. Yadav joined the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in 1991 and contested for the House of Representatives from Sunsari 4 in the same year. He gained 8,672 votes but finished a distant second. He served as the district leader of Sunsari and Morang district during his time in the party. He resigned from the party in 1997. After leaving CPN (UML) Yadav had become an alternate central committee member of CPN (Maoist).

Madhesh movement He was again arrested on 16 January 2007 in Kathmandu along with MP Amaresh Kumar Singh and a dozen others after they burned copies of the Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2007 after it did not address the issue of federalism and greater political representation from the Terai in the parliament and the constituent assembly. Following mass protests and indefinite strikes in the Terai region organized by his party, the government agreed to amend the interim constitution and on 12 April 2007, Nepal turned into a federal republic.

Constituent Assembly He registered the organization as a political party on 26 April 2007 to contest the constituent assembly elections. He was elected to the 1st Nepalese Constituent Assembly from Sunsari 5 at the 2008 elections. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in a coalition government with the CPN (Maoist) from August 2008 to May 2009 and again in a coalition government with CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in 2011. He retained his seat in the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly from Sunsari 5 at the 2013 elections. He served as the parliamentary party leader of MJF and also served as a member of the Constitutional-Political Dialogue and Consensus Committee.

National politics: since 2015 On 15 June 2015, his party merged with Federal Socialist Party and Khas Samabesi Party to form the Federal Socialist Forum. He served as co-chairman of the new party along with Rajendra Prasad Shrestha. He was a member of the Education and Health Committee of the House of Representatives. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister in a coalition government with the Nepal Communist Party from June 2018 to December 2019. He served as co-chairman of the party with Mahantha Thakur until Thakur split off to form the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal. Yadav contested the 2022 elections to the House of Representatives from Saptari 2 again but lost to Janamat Party chairman CK Raut by a margin of over 18,000 votes.

Criticism Yadav has been accused of being linked to Hindu extremist groups and in December 2006 publicly supported the notion of Nepal as a Hindu nation at a program of right-wing Hindu groups in Gorakhpur, India. A month after the incident, he was leading the protests in support of turning Nepal into a secular federal republic.

Once a major activist for Madheshi people, Yadav has been criticized for forgetting Madhesh-centric issues as he became more active in national politics.

Personal life Yadav is married to Parbati Yadav with whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. His son, Amarendra Yadav, contested the 2022 local elections for the deputy mayor of Biratnagar but lost.

Electoral history