Former RSS Chair and Senior Journalist Mathawar Singh Basnet Passes Away

Mathawar Singh Basnet, former Chairperson of the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS) and a senior journalist, has passed away at the age of 79 due to a heart attack.

A resident of Suryabinayak Municipality-8 in Bhaktapur, Basnet had been on ventilator support at Annapurna Neuro Hospital in Kathmandu after suffering a heart attack on Thursday night.

Basnet was the publisher and editor of Purnajagaran Weekly and had previously served as the Chairperson of Gorkhapatra Sansthan and the Press Council Nepal. In addition to his journalism career, he was also an active leader of the Nepali Congress Bhaktapur. Known for his commitment to democracy, he was imprisoned multiple times for his political activities before being released following the restoration of democracy in 1990.

Basnet is survived by his wife, a son, and a daughter. His last rites will be performed later today at Pashupati Aryaghat in Kathmandu, according to Sushil Basnet, Secretary of the Nepali Congress Bhaktapur District Committee.

His passing marks a significant loss for both the media and political communities in Nepal.