CPN-UML leader Surya Thapa mocked Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) chairman Rabi Lamichhane over his family pilgrimage to Kainchi Dham in Nainital, Uttarakhand, with Nepali media reporting Thapa’s remarks on October 24, 2026. Thapa questioned whether Lamichhane had sought blessings at the Indian shrine after worship at Pashupatinath and among Nepal’s 33 million deities had not been enough to free him from depression. The remark was presented as political satire, not as a confirmed account of Lamichhane’s health.
Thapa’s sarcastic question
According to reports published by Nagarik News and Nepal Press, Thapa framed Lamichhane’s visit as a search for spiritual relief. His pointed question drew a contrast between worship at Pashupatinath in Nepal and a visit to Kainchi Dham across the border in India.
The reference to Pashupatinath and the 33 million deities formed the core of Thapa’s taunt. He suggested, sarcastically, that if those forms of worship had not provided what Lamichhane sought, the RSP chairman might have turned to Kainchi Dham for blessings. Thapa’s mention of depression was part of that political jab; the reports do not establish that Lamichhane has depression or that he described the pilgrimage as treatment for it.
The remark followed Lamichhane’s travel to India with his family on a pilgrimage. The supplied reports place the destination at Kainchi Dham, in Nainital, Uttarakhand. They do not provide further details about the family’s itinerary, the length of the visit or the specific religious activities undertaken there.
A pilgrimage becomes a political talking point
Thapa’s comments turned a reported family religious visit into a subject of political mockery. Rather than describing the trip only as a pilgrimage, he cast it through a comparison between religious destinations and the search for blessings. That framing made the destination itself part of the taunt, while his reference to depression sharpened its personal tone.
The reports identify Thapa as a CPN-UML leader and Lamichhane as the chairman of the RSP. They present Thapa’s words as sarcasm directed at Lamichhane following the journey. The reported exchange therefore centres on the wording of Thapa’s remark and the circumstances of the pilgrimage, rather than on any stated response from Lamichhane.
Neither report, as reflected in the available information, supplies a reply from Lamichhane to Thapa’s comments. Nor is there information establishing that Lamichhane travelled to Kainchi Dham specifically to address depression. The distinction matters because Thapa’s phrasing was a political insinuation, while the confirmed detail in the account is that Lamichhane travelled to India with his family on a pilgrimage.
What is known about the visit
The available account provides a limited set of details: Lamichhane travelled with his family, the trip was described as a pilgrimage, and Kainchi Dham in Nainital, Uttarakhand, was the destination mentioned in Thapa’s remarks. The Nepali outlets reported the episode on October 24, 2026. No additional itinerary or explanation from Lamichhane is included in the information provided.
Thapa’s question linked the visit to worship at Pashupatinath and to Nepal’s 33 million deities, asking whether the pilgrimage to Kainchi Dham was another route to blessings. It was an explicitly mocking characterization of Lamichhane’s journey. The reports do not provide evidence that Lamichhane made the same connection himself, and they do not report a personal statement from him about the purpose of the trip beyond its description as a pilgrimage.
The episode thus rests on two separate points: Lamichhane’s reported family pilgrimage to an Indian religious site and Thapa’s sarcastic response to it. Beyond those details, the available reports do not offer further information about the trip or any direct exchange between the two politicians.
