"Lekin hota bhudol, bavandar uthte hain,
Janata jab kopakul ho bhrikuti chadhati hai;
Do raah, samay ke rath ka gharghar-naad suno,
Singhasan khaali karo ki janata aati hai.
Hunkaaron se mahilon ki neev ukhadd jaati,
Saanson ke bal se taaj hawa mein udta hai,
Janata ki roke raah, samay mein taav kahaan?
Wah jidhar chahti, kaal udhar hi mudta hai."
Following the Gen-Z uprising in Nepal and the fall of the Oli administration, the words of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar resonate. When citizens of a nation become enraged and restless, destruction ensues. Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was compelled to step down and escape. In a shocking incident, the wife of former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal was set on fire by furious individuals. The Finance Minister and other officials were assaulted in public. Key sites of authority, including Singh Durbar, Parliament House, the Supreme Court, Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Prime Minister's residence, and other historic structures, were reduced to ruins. Initially, the youth's revolt appeared to be a reaction against social media restrictions, but it soon escalated into a violent clash. To date, the violence has claimed 25 lives and left over 300 injured.
Now the question is why Nepal boiled over? It has never happened before in a neighboring country that a generation rebels at home while every month thousands of people are fleeing abroad for jobs. It is clear that the roots of violence and unrest are very deep. When protests against corruption broke out in Southeast Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, no one thought that it would spread to Nepal. The ban on social media platforms proved to be the trigger for the youth's anger. The KP Sharma Oli-led government also reached the pinnacle of brutality when 20 people, including school children, were killed in police firing.
The Gen Z-led protests should be seen in the backdrop of recent events in Nepal. It is not just a protest against the ban on social media. Like Indonesia and the Philippines, Nepali social media users also used platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to publicly criticise the luxurious lifestyles and travels of the children and relatives of MPs and politicians, while most of the country was struggling with poverty and hardships. Publicising several high-profile corruption scandals, they mentioned that taxpayers' money was being used to finance the lifestyles of "nepo babies".
Institutional corruption, nepotism, unemployment, poor economic condition and political discontent play a major role behind the violence. In the last 4 years, many big scams have come to light in Nepal, including Giri Bandhu land, swap scam which is said to be worth Rs 54,600 crore. Oriental Cooperative scam of Rs 13000 crore and Cooperative scam of about Rs 70 thousand crore. Due to these big scams, the general public has completely lost faith in the government. 10.71 percent of the youth in Nepal are unemployed. While inflation is touching the sky. 56 percent of the country's total wealth is owned by only 20 percent of the people, including most of the politicians. The condition of the economy is bad. The situation in Nepal is also complicated politically. After the formation of the Oli government in July 2024, he has mortgaged the country to China.
The economic pressure increased due to the border dispute with India, which caused deep resentment among the people. Nepal was a Hindu nation, but in 2008, the 239-year-old monarchy was abolished and democracy was established, but since then Nepal has been politically unstable and governments have changed several times and there have been 10 prime ministers. Democracy may have been established in Nepal in 2008, but it started in 1990 with a system of multiparty democracy, but at that time the influence of the king remained. A big change occurred in 2001 because King Birendra and his family were assassinated and Gyanendra became the king and took over power. In 2005, Gyanendra dissolved the multiparty democracy government and took over power completely, but from 2006 a movement against the monarchy began and in 2008 monarchy was abolished and democracy was established and Nepal was declared a secular nation.
The way power has been turned into a musical chair, the current rebellion is also the result of that. From time to time, there has been a stir over the demand for the return of monarchy. Amidst the turmoil in Nepal, the name of Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah is emerging for the post of Prime Minister. Balendra Shah got his master's degree in engineering from India itself. He is quite popular as a rapper and lyricist. There is no doubt that Nepal has been an arena for China and America for many years, so the role of foreign forces behind the rebellion cannot be denied outright. We have seen the events in Bangladesh. It remains to be seen how peace is established in Nepal after the revolution.