Balaram Poudyal

Balaram Poudyal (born 10 October 1952) is a Bhutanese political activist associated with the exile opposition that emerged after the displacement of much of southern Bhutan's Lhotshampa population in the early 1990s.^[1] He has served as chairman of the Bhutan Peoples' Party (BPP) and as vice-chairman of the National Front for Democracy (NFD)-Bhutan, and he is a founding member of the People's Forum for Human Rights, Bhutan.

Poudyal is one of several Lhotshampa figures who continued to press for political change from exile in Nepal after the bilateral repatriation talks between Nepal and Bhutan stalled. He has been a critic of the Bhutanese government's policies towards its ethnic Nepali population and of the official doctrine of Gross National Happiness, which he has dismissed in the context of the expulsions with the remark, "It's not gross national happiness; it's gross national sorrow."^[2]

Roles in the exile movement

Poudyal leads the Bhutan Peoples' Party and serves as vice-chairman of the National Front for Democracy (NFD)-Bhutan, an umbrella grouping of exile parties.^[1] He is also a founding member of the People's Forum for Human Rights, Bhutan, and has been associated with the Bhutanese Movement Steering Committee.

He is not the founder of the Bhutan Peoples' Party. The party was established on 2 June 1990, and its first leader was R.K. Budathoki, who led it until he was assassinated in Damak, in the Jhapa district of eastern Nepal, on 9 September 2001.^[3] Poudyal is a later chairman of the party rather than its founder; some accounts that describe him as the BPP's "founding chairman" are mistaken on this point.

Position on third-country resettlement

When the third-country resettlement programme for Bhutanese refugees began after 2007, Poudyal took a cautious public position. He has said his party did not object to relocation in principle but wanted clarity first: "We only wanted to know the modus operandi and the means of settlement with indication of their future prospects before we opt to go for any available options."^[1] He argued that resettlement abroad need not end the political campaign, stating that "Our political field is in Bhutan and not in exile."

References

1. "Third country settlement should not hamper Bhutanese political struggle" — APFA News (interview with Balaram Poudyal)
2. "Nepalese immigrants look home" — The World (PRX/GBH)
3. "Bhutan Peoples' Party" — Wikipedia (founding date and R.K. Budathoki leadership)