By Deepak Adhikari

KATHMANDU, Nepal

 Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Nepal’s first female president who was elected earlier this week, has been a welcome exception in this deeply patriarchal South Asian nation, where politics has largely been considered a man’s game.

Bhandari, the 54-year-old vice chairwoman of the ruling Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party, defeated her rival, Kul Bahadur Gurung, of the opposition Nepali Congress, becoming the second head of state since Nepal abolished its monarchy seven years ago.

Bhandari was sworn in as president in a ceremony Thursday and has since moved into a colonial-style bungalow in an upscale neighborhood of capital Kathmandu.

It was a remarkable achievement for Bhandari, who grew up in a rural household in a remote village of eastern Nepal before joining a leftist student organization as a teenager.

She later moved to a border town in the country’s southeast to pursue her higher education, where she became a member of an underground communist party fighting against the autocratic pro-monarchy Panchayat regime.

Bhandari married fellow communist leader Madan Bhandari, who drew a large following for his oratory skills. The union, however, served to temporarily suspend her political career, largely confining her to household responsibilities.

After the death of her husband in a car accident in 1993, she emerged from the shadows as a popular orator in her own right, thus beginning an unlikely political career.

The UML party fielded her in the constituency left vacant by her husband’s death, and she surprised everyone by defeating her rival, a former prime minister from the Nepali Congress party.

Since then, her political career has seen an upward trajectory: in the mid-1990s she became minister for environment and population.

In mid-term polls held in 1999, she defeated a former parliamentary speaker of the Nepali Congress.

One decade later, as the former Maoist rebels laid down their arms and joined mainstream politics following a 10-year insurgency, she was appointed defense minister in a government led by her party.

Bhandari’s detractors have attributed her political ascendance to a wave of sympathy she garnered following her husband’s death.

Pradeep Gyawali, a UML spokesman, however, says this is only partly true.

"It’s because of her determination and dedication to the political causes championed by her party," Gyawali told Anadolu Agency.

"One cannot just ride on a sympathy wave and become a leader. Such kindness doesn’t last long. She has risen despite personal tragedies," he said.

 Women's rights

Bhandari -- a close ally of the country’s new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli -- has also long been at the forefront of Nepal’s women’s rights movement.

Often dressed in traditional Nepali attire, Bhandari, the mother of two daughters, was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2005. She was cured of the disease, however, after receiving treatment in India.

In 2007, she was elected vice chairwoman of the UML, becoming one of only a handful of female leaders to hold such a key position in a Nepali political party.

Gyawali describes Bhandari as a leader who easily assimilated with her grassroots cadres -- and one who looked out for them.

"She carries the legacy of her late husband and is very popular," he said.

While Nepal’s presidency is a largely ceremonial five-year posting, Bhandari will face the challenges associated with implementing a new constitution.

"Our society has been polarized due to ongoing protests. So her first challenge is to play a constructive role in uniting the country," Gyawali said.

Nepal has recently been shaken by weeks of protests by various ethnic groups upset with the terms of the new national charter, especially those concerning the demarcation of federal states.

Government negotiators have held talks with the protesters, but have largely failed to make headway, with both groups blaming each other for the deadlock.