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About Shailaja Acharya
- Shailaja Acharya (Nepali: ????? ??????) (1944 – 12 June 2009) was a Nepali revolutionary, politician and diplomat.
- She was the first Nepali woman Minister of Water Resources, and the first Nepali woman deputy prime minister. A member of the influential Koirala family, Acharya entered active politics as a student, and was held political prisoner for three years as a teenager, after she showed a black flag to King Mahendra in protest of coup d'etat by the monarchy against the democratically elected government in 1961.
- Upon release, she went into self-exile in India where she fostered a close friendship with Indian leaders, notably Chandra Sekhar, while she continued to advance the democratic struggle against the Panchayat System.
- She played an instrumental role in organising the youth movement, collecting and smuggling arms and ammunition for a possible armed conflict and publishing a paper to raise political awareness.
- She accompanied BP Koirala when the latter returned to Nepal and was immediately arrested upon arrival.
- She spent a total of five years in jail during the Panchayat regime. After the reinstitution of democracy, Acharya was elected twice to parliament, in 1991 and 1994.
- Between 1991 and 1993, she was the Minister for Agriculture, a post she resigned in protest of corruption in the government.
- In 1997, she became the first woman Minister for Water Resources, and in 1998, she became the first woman deputy prime minister.
- After King Gyanendra suspended democracy in another coup, she continued to support constitutional monarchy publicly, in defiance of her party's position.
- She was appointed ambassador to India in 2007. Acharya was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2007.
- She died of pneumonia in Kathmandu on 12 June 2009.
- She is remembered for her principled positions, her defiance of tyranny at an young age, her role in the fight for democracy, and her philanthropic activities.
- She was awarded the honour of Maha Ujjwal Rashtradip by the government of Nepal in 2014.
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