TheNepal Praja Parishad (Nepali: नेपाल प्रजा परिषद) was the first attempt to form an organization to lead the revolution against theRana dynasty in Nepal. Led byTanka Prasad Acharya, the group was founded in 1936, and is seen as the first political party in Nepal. The organisation collapsed after their plot to assassinate multiple members of the Rana regime was discovered, and some of its key members were executed.^[1]

The idea of the Nepal Praja Parishad was proposed byDashrath Chand andTanka Prasad Acharya in a hotel inBhimphedi,Makwanpur District of Nepal. Following many years of dictatorial rule from the Ranas as hereditaryPrime Ministers,^[2] people in Nepal began to support their overthrow. However, that sentiment was mostly exclusive to rich high class intellectuals, with the uneducated peasantry unable and unwilling to help. The Nepal Praja Parishad was formed in 1936, after Acharya and Chand received support from other aristocrats and intellectuals.^[3] The group was led by Tanka Prasad Acharya, and the organization's head office was kept inDharma Bhakta Mathema's house in Om Bahal,Kathmandu.^[4]

Initially, the Nepal Praja Parishad distributed hand-written pamphlets among the people and wrote articles against the Rana Dynasty in Nepal in an Indian socialist paper "Janata" and another paper published inCalcutta named "Advance". Later, Tanka Prasad Acharya brought aprinting machine from India, and the organization started to distribute pamphlets, print articles in newspapers and draw wall posters against the Rana dynasty to enlighten the people against their rule. The Nepal Praja Parishad also later planned the assassination of multiple high ranking politicians in the Rana regime.^[5][6] However, they were unsuccessful in their plot, and were discovered after a member of the group informed the Rana government.

After the Rana government found out about the assassination plot of the Nepal Praja Parishad, Prime MinisterJuddha Shumsher had the leading members of the group arrested. In 1941, senior leaders of the groupDharma Bhakta Mathema,Dashrath Chand,Gangalal Shrestha andTanka Prasad Acharya were sentenced to death, but Acharya was not executed, as the Nepali law at the time forbade the killing ofBrahmins.^[7] Following their execution, and Acharya's sentence changed to life imprisonment, the Nepal Praja Parishad was dissolved in January 1941. Mathema, Chand and Shrestha, along withShukraraj Shastri, another anti-Rana intellectual who was not involved with the Praja Parishad, are now recognized as the4 Martyrs of Nepal.^[8][9]

Following the events of the1951 Revolution, the Ranas were removed from power and parliamentary democracy was established in Nepal. Tanka Prasad Acharya was released from prison, and had at this point been a senior member of theNepali Congress. However, following disagreements with the Nepali Congress, Tanka Prasad Acharya andBhadrakali Mishra, another senior politician of the Nepali Congress, split off from the party and reactivated the Nepal Praja Parishad in the 1950s.^[10] The party served in the government ofMatrika Prasad Koirala in 1953, and remained a notable political party in opposition to the Nepali Congress.^[11] Tanka Prasad Acharya was even made Prime Minister byKing Mahendra in 1956. However, in 1959, Acharya and Mishra contested the elections separately, and were recognized as different political parties: theNepal Praja Parishad (Acharya) and theNepal Praja Parishad (Mishra). Acharya's faction of the party won 2 seats in the election, whereas Mishra's faction won 1.^[12] In 1961, following King Mahendra's implementation of thePanchayat system, the party rejoined the Nepali Congress.^[13]

The Nepal Praja Parishad consisted of many Nepali revolutionaries of the time. The leaders of the group includedRam Hari Sharma Nepal,Dharma Bhakta Mathema,Dashrath Chand,Tanka Prasad Acharya andGangalal Shrestha. Dharma Bhakta Mathema was also the gym instructor ofKing Tribhuvan, and the motives of the organization were known to and also supported by him. Other members of this organization included Chudaprasad Sharma, Govinda Prasad Upadhya(Poudyal), Puskar Nath Upreti, Mukunda Nath Rimal, Bal Bahadur Pandey, Druba Prasad Dawade, Fadindra Nath Satyal, Hari Krishna Shrestha, Chakra Bahadur Khatri,Ganesh Man Singh, Keshav Khatri, Ramji Shrestha, Chandraman Shrestha, and also King Jaya Prithivi Bahadur Singh ofBajhang.^[14]

Prime Minister	Portrait	Term in Office			Cabinet
		Start	End	Tenure
Tanka Prasad Acharya		27 January 1956	26 July 1957	1 year, 180 days	Acharya, 1956

• Political parties in Nepal
• Rebel groups in Nepal
• Rana regime
• 1941 disestablishments in Nepal
• 1936 establishments in Nepal
• Political parties disestablished in 1941

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