Rabi Lamichhane

Rabi Lamichhane (रबि लामिछाने; ; born 11 June 1975) is a Nepali politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of Nepal. A former journalist, Lamichhane became a member of the House of Representatives from Chitwan 2 on 28 April 2023, having previously represented the constituency from December 2022 to January 2023 before being stripped of his position by the Supreme Court.

Prior to entering politics, Lamichhane was a well-known television personality. He gained popularity for his investigative journalism and social activism, particularly his coverage of social and political issues affecting marginalized communities in Nepal.

Broadcast career
Lamichhane rose to fame as the host of a television show on the News24 aimed at setting the world record for the longest marathon hosting of a television show in April 2013. He selected the 'Buddha was born in Nepal' theme in order to "help promote Nepal globally". The previous record was set by two Ukrainian presenters who stayed on the air for 52 hours in 2011. He interviewed politicians, journalists, and celebrities, and took phone calls from viewers. While he set the Guinness world record at over 62 hours in April 2013, the record has since been broken by Alexandru Raducanu of Romania, who hosted an over 72-hour-long show.

Lamichhane went on to host the popular Sidha Kura Pradhanmantri Sanga (Straight Talk with the Prime minister) with prime minister KP Sharma Oli on the Nepal Television and News 24. Later he went on to host Sidha Kura Janata Sanga on News24. The show's format has Lamichhane providing an editorial monologue alongside reporting, primarily the kind of sting journalism pioneered by the Indian news magazine Tehelka. Lamichhane follows up on complaints from ordinary people, chiefly victims of fraud or corruption, and confronts the alleged perpetrators on camera. The show has been described as "unapologetically nationalist, at times simplistic in its coverage of complex issues," and creating "a cult of personality around its host". Lamichhane resigned from News24 in January 2021 and announced the launch of a new version of his show as Sidha Kura on Galaxy 4K TV.

Political career
On 16 June 2022, Lamichhane announced his resignation from Galaxy 4K TV in order to contest the 2022 general elections later in the year for a seat to the House of Representatives. He announced the formation of a new political party, the Rastriya Swatantra Party on 21 June 2022. He registered his candidacy from Chitwan 2. His car was vandalized while on the campaign trail in Chitwan on 13 November 2022.

Lamichhane was elected with a majority of 34,312 votes, defeating Nepali Congress' Umesh Shrestha, an incumbent minister of state, and CPN (UML)'s Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel, the incumbent member of the constituency. In the aftermath of the election, his party supported Pushpa Kamal Dahal's nomination for prime minister, and Lamichhane led the RSP in government as deputy prime minister and minister for home affairs.

During his campaign for the 2022 general election, a complaint was filed calling for his candidacy to be scrapped. The complainant claimed that Lamichhane had not renounced his Nepali citizenship while being an American citizen and Nepali law does not allow dual citizenship. On 27 January 2022, the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that Lamichhane did not follow due process to re-obtain his Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship, and thus, was not a legal Nepali citizen. This verdict effectively stripped Lamichhane of his position as deputy prime minister and minister of home affairs.

After re-acquiring Nepali citizenship, he contested the by-election held for his Chitwan 2 seat in April 2023, and was re-elected securing an even greater margin of votes than in the 2022 general election.

Legal issues
On 15 August 2019, police arrested Lamichhane from his News 24 office in connection with the suicide of journalist Shalikram Pudasaini. In a video recorded before his death, Pudasaini, who had also worked for News24, had named Lamichhane, among others, as driving him to suicide. Chitwan police charged Lamichhane, along with two others with abetment of suicide. His arrest provoked widespread protest rallies in his support across the country with thousands of young people taking to the streets in Chitwan. Protestors saw Lamichhane's arrest as an attempt to stifle his journalism and retaliation for his exposure of corruption in the state. Chitwan District Court released Lamichhane on Rs 500,000 bail a few days later. Judge Hemanta Rawal eventually cleared Lamichhane of all charges.

Citizenship
Lamichhane was an American citizen from 2007 to 2017. He claimed that his previous Nepali citizenship was revived following the renouncement of his American citizenship. A ruling of the Supreme Court of Nepal on 27 January 2023 removed him from all public offices (deputy prime minister and home minister; party chairman and parliamentary party leader) and as Member of Parliament for not following due process and obtaining a new Nepali citizenship after renouncing his American citizenship in 2017. He re-acquired Nepali citizenship following due process on 29 January 2023.

Cooperatives
In early 2024, Kantipur Daily began publishing a series of articles about Lamichhane's involvement in financial embezzlement from cooperatives. Although the primary accused was GB Rai, the owner of the cooperatives and also the owner of Lamichhane's previous employer Galaxy4K Television, Lamichhane was alleged to be involved as his name and signature were found on multiple financial documents. Rai and Lamichhane were accused of illegally taking money from banking cooperatives and investing it into Galaxy4K, which is against Nepali law. Lamichhane denied all accusations and said that his name and signature were misused.

After weeks of protests by opposition parties, a parliamentary investigation committee was formed on May 18, 2024 to look into fraud and embezzlement in many of Nepal's financial cooperatives. Lamichhane's name, however, was not mentioned in the committee's terms of reference.

Criticism
While Lamichhane has become a celebrity in Nepal, there are some who have raised questions about his style of journalism and the "cult of personality" that has sprung up around him. While his methods have borne results for the ordinary people on whose behalf he pursues cases of fraud and corruption, critics have pointed to his "nationalist posturing" and "simplistic storylines".

On 5 February 2023, after being stripped of his positions as Home Minister and Member of Parliament by the Supreme Court over irregularities in his citizenship, Lamichhane held a news conference alleging that the Nepali mainstream media had framed him. He alleged that the owners of media houses like Kantipur Publications, Annapurna Media, Setopati and Onlinekhabar had their own conflicts of interest and had gotten together to defame him. The media called his accusations "attack on the entire media industry" and that Lamichhane had thrown a temper tantrum after losing his positions in government.

Personal life
Lamichhane was married to Isha Lamichhane for 24 years until their divorce in 2019. They had been separated for 10 years prior to their divorce. He married the-then chair of the Nepal Film Development Board, Nikita Poudel, on 21 January 2019.