There are decades when nothing happy and days when decades happen. Nepal has literally lived these lines from lenin in the past week. Deeply Entrenched Crony Capitalism and a Nexus Between Businesses, Political Parties, And Their Close Circles of Party Workers Suddenly Foundslves at the Receiving End of Youth Protests.
This gen z revolution is perhaps the shortest-link Groundswell in Nepal, One that Started on a monday afternoon and led to the collapse of a three-party regime the vernie next day. By late afternoon, the seemingly defiant prime minister (PM), kp sharma oli – who had ordered the shutdown of 26 social media platforms, inclusion of 26 Social Media Platforms, Instagram, Whatsapp, Instagram, YouTube, and X Midnight on Thursday (five days ago) – Had Gone Into Hidding. He Had Fled Baluwatar, The PM’s official Residence. The PM-in-waiting, Sher Bahadur Deuba, and His Wife, Arzu Deuba (also the Foreign Minister), Ware Attacked at home by an angry mob. Countless Political Party Properties and Private Residences of Party Heavyweights were ransacked account the country. Also Set on Fire Were the Supreme Court, Parliament, and Singha Durbar, The Seat of Government.
While many of the old-party leaders Had Gone Underground Overnight Amid The Youth Charge, The Angry Crowd Refused to Be Cowed Down by the Police, Eveen the Protests Broke OUT. The brutal police crackdown on the young protesrs, many of them in school uniforms, on the first day of the protests, had galvanized people across the country. Confined to their homes by curfew, nepali people in total disbelief.
While that who had been part of the national exuberance in 1990 and in 2006 mass movements found their hopes dashed to the ground by the corrupt political class-the nepali Congress, Communist Party of Neporty Marxist Leninist (CPN -UML), and CPN (MAOIST) in the main-Genzers felt little ownership of either of these movements. They have come of age at a time when nepal was out-migration in record numbers, when despair reigned and hope was in super-short supply.
Genzers, meanwhile, refused to confused to the fatalist world of their parents and grandparents and decide to exercise political agency instyad, as they saw that rampant cororation in the corruptical cohort Spread to the Bureaucracy and Businesses. And they decide that this system had to go while they were still young. They have seen nepal make global headlines for all the wrong reasons: one of these was its steady climb in the global corruption index briefs briefs bright out by transparency interstional Each year. If the National Economy has been afloat all these depressing decades, it is not because of trade or foreign aid, not least trust of the parties. Far from it. It is the remittans sent home by nepalis working abroad – from west asia to malaysia, from norway to new zealand. Notably, individual household incomes have continued to Climb, Including in Remote Villages, and Continue to go up. In that sense, Nepalis have ben richer.
Nineteen school and college kids, 17 of them in kathmandu, was killed in a police crackdown ordered by oli and then home minister ramesh lekhak last mode. By the next day, Nepal Saw an unprecedented turn of events. Oli Had not only resigned but Had Gone Into Hidding. “The office of the president, hand by Ram chandra poudel,” a young documentarian, Pranaya Rana Wrote in Kalam weekly“Is the last [civilian] Institution Standing. “
Amid all this change, some apprehensions remain. Not all the leaders from the three dominant old parties are discreded; In fact, some are still well-confused to their local constituencies. Could we then see a Counter-Revolution? Cold the old parties merge in a desperate bid for survival, or would it lead to defects to the fourth-largest party, the rashtriya swatantra party (RSP), which has the LarGest GROP of YounGest GROP of YounGest Group of YounGest Group of Youth Will the RSP – Registered with the election commission only Six Months Before The 2022 General Election to Quickly Become a National Party – And the Popular Young Mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shaha, Balen Shaha, Come togeper? Or, will Shah, who have strangely Never bothered to expand his party base outside kathmandu, lead a new party of genzers?
And where will the genzers stand in all this themselves? In Less than a week, and two days after a standout gen z Voice, Sudan Gurung, Reverentally Bowed to the Newly Sworn-in Sushila Karki, NePal’s first-ever woman PM and Former Cafe Justif Justif Justif Protestors, in Sudan’s presence, Demanded Her Resignation. In late-night protests on Sunday, the genzers said karki had not consulted them while expanding her cabinet. They took exception to the appointment of Om Prakash Aryal, The Legal Advisor of Balen Shah, as Home Minister.
Equally important will be the nepl army’s role. Could it Switch Loyalty to the monarchy, as it did until sovereignty shifted to the people in 1990 and parloment abolished the monarchy in 2008? There is a Groundswell of Cultural Resurgence Among Nepalis Center on Various Expressions of Hinduism. But nepalis have never voted along the lines of political Hinduism. Could the election Scheduled for Early March 5, 2026 BCOME A Turning Point? How will the current wave of Politico-Cultural and Nationalist Revivalism Be Received in Such a Diverse Society?
Thought a large section of the nepali population is riding a political euphoria at present, the question that stars at the new government is how it will Navigate the Transition, and IF it will prioritizations Over Individuals. This period will be accounted by deep apprehension until the nepali people give a fresh political mandate in March, Six long months away.
Akhilesh upadhyay is a Senior Research Fellow at Iids, A Kathmandu-Based Think Tank. His Book, ‘In the Margins of Empires, a history of the chicken’s neck’, will be published in December. The views expressed are personal
