Coup Atlas Research Database
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79001221952AttemptedDissident coup

Nepal, 1952 — dissident coup attempt

Nepal (NPL)South Asia, AsiaJanuary 22, 1952

Event Summary

On the night of 22 to 23 January 1952 the Raksha Dal, a paramilitary wing linked to radical elements of the Nepali Congress and communist sympathizers under Kunwar Indrajit Singh, known as K.I. Singh, mounted a revolt in Kathmandu against the two month old government of Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala.

The rebels cut electricity, freed prisoners including Singh, and seized the Singha Durbar secretariat, the Nepal Bank, the airfield, and the radio and telegraph offices, demanding that Singh be made prime minister. Singh, a hero of the 1950 to 1951 anti-Rana revolution who had rejected the Delhi settlement, sent King Tribhuvan a list of demands but, fearing betrayal, fled the capital and eventually crossed into Tibet. Loyal army units and most Raksha Dal officers stayed with the government, the revolt was suppressed within days, and its aftermath brought the banning of the Communist Party of Nepal on 24 January 1952.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala and King Tribhuvan survived; the revolt was suppressed and K.I. Singh fled to Tibet
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Matrika Prasad Koirala (prime minister of Nepal, target)
King Tribhuvan (monarch)
Kunwar Indrajit Singh, K.I. Singh (revolt leader)
Ram Prasad Rai (co-leader freed in the rising)

Sources

On the night of 23 January 1952 there was total anarchy in Kathmandu as the Raksha Dal rebellion cut electricity and captured the Singha Durbar, the Nepal Bank, the civil court, and the gunpowder house, with street demonstrations demanding K.I. Singh be made prime minister.
SOURCE REVIEWED The Annapurna Express, The man who captured Singha Durbar open source ↗
The arrest of Ram Prasad Rai led to a Raksha Dal revolt in Kathmandu that freed both Rai and K.I. Singh from jail and occupied the Singha Durbar, but after a few days the revolt was defeated because the army and most Raksha Dal officers remained loyal, and Singh fled into Tibet.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, Kunwar Indrajit Singh open source ↗
In January 1952, on India's suggestion, Nepal's government repressed the Raksha Dal revolt, a paramilitary wing of the Nepali Congress, and banned the Communist Party of Nepal.
SOURCE REVIEWED Cambridge Core, Law and History Review, Nepal's Constitutional Foundations open source ↗
The government of Matrika Prasad Koirala, Nepal's first civilian prime minister after the fall of the Rana regime, had been formed on 16 November 1951 and had just completed two months when the revolt broke out.
SOURCE REVIEWED The Annapurna Express, The man who captured Singha Durbar open source ↗

Editorial Note

Dataset date 22 January 1952 sits at the start of the overnight 22 to 23 January rising; sources variously cite 22, 23, and 24 January for the revolt and the subsequent Communist Party ban, noted. K.I. Singh returned from exile in 1955 and briefly became prime minister in 1957.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
79001221952

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prime Minister Matrika Prasad Koirala and King Tribhuvan survived; the revolt was suppressed and K.I. Singh fled to Tibet.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation
Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
Open dataset DOI ↗
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

New York Herald Tribune

“Revolt Is Reported Put Down In Nepal: 400 Seized; India Expected To Act If Necessary,” January 24, 1952

New York Times

“Nepal Quelling a Revolt, Indian Government Hears,” January 24, 1952

The Sun

“Nepal Revolt Flares; India Seen Ready To Intervene: Rebels Said To Get Aid From Reds,400 Insurgents Reported to Be Under Arrest at Khatmandu,” January 24, 1952

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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