Inside Nepal's breaking point: Uncanny link between corruption and social media ban

New Delhi: The sudden and deadly violent protests that rocked Nepal reflect the deep public anger, distress and frustration against the government, greedy political elites and what is described as the confluence of ‘parivarvad’ (familism), corruption and nepotism.

Following a peaceful protest on Sunday, the unrest suddenly escalated and that so rapidly. The clear, bright sky of the Himalayan country was quickly engulfed in smoke from torched government buildings, private houses of politicians and rich businessmen, burnt tyres and so on.

The protesters led by Nepal’s Gen Z, mostly below 30 and some even school students, targeted not only the current ruling class but also rulers of the past. They apparently torched a security post near the house of the former Prime Minister and Communist Party Nepal (Maoist Centre) leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’.

Another former Prime Minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress and his wife, Arzu Rana Deuba, who was the foreign minister, were left bleeding in the fields. In a widely circulated video, the finance minister was seen being chased and beaten up on the streets of Kathmandu.

Former prime minister Jhalanath Khanal managed to flee from the angry mob, but his wife Rajyalaxmi Chitrakar got trapped after protesters reportedly set the house on fire in the Dallu area.

The violent mobs also did not spare symbols of power as they defied curfew and attacked all three arms of the government, the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. They torched the Supreme Court, Parliament building, offices and private houses of the president, the prime minister and other political leaders, including the Opposition.

Amid this spiralling and uncontrolled violence, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), who until then appeared to be enjoying absolute power, hastily resigned. It is rumoured that his family has been flown to Dubai under tight security, while he is stated to be in Shivapuri.

It is claimed that he made his views, with a lot of emotional touch, on the current situation from Shivapuri on Wednesday, while urging people not to destroy the “system” which has been put in place with a lot of care and struggle. But his statement came after over 20 people had died.

Former ambassador and Jawaharlal Nehru University professor SD Muni drew a parallel between Nepal and Bangladesh. “Nepal is burning; there is total anarchy. I have been saying this government is not going to last, and the whole movement was against corruption in this leadership,” Prof Muni said.

When it comes to ‘parivaravad’ and patronage, he pointed out that Deuba’s wife was accommodated as the foreign minister. The same is the case with Oli and his family and other leaders.

In Nepalese politics, observers point out, Oli, Deuba and Prachanda have been taking turns to head the government. It is a different matter that Deuba’s party later said it would pull out of the government, and many of the ministers had resigned when the unrest broke out. It is said that the UML and the Nepali Congress came together to form the government because they wanted to shield each other from corruption charges.

“It is not a simple agitation; it is far beyond the people’s uprising that we saw in Sri Lanka, and I strongly feel it is six times more than what happened in Bangladesh. It is not confined to Kathmandu but all over Nepal,” said Prof Muni, highlighting that on Monday, the first day of the protests, there were placards against corruption and nepotism.

Corruption in high places is not new in Nepal, one of the major factors that fuelled the Gen Z anger. It is said that Oli, Deuba and Prachanda and their family members, all of whom were targeted by violent mobs, are alleged to have presided over some of the biggest corruption scandals.

It is alleged that a corrupt politico-bureaucratic nexus lined their pockets with huge sums of money through what is known as the Bhutanese refugee scam, the purchase of wide-bodied aircraft for Nepal Airlines, the Giri Bandhu Tea Estate land sale scandal of 2021, the Maoist cantonment scandal in 2007, etc. There are corruption cases against leaders of almost all other.

So, the ban on 26 social media platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, where details of the political corruption and the lavish lifestyle of children of elite political leaders were highlighted, triggered the protest, which snowballed into violence and complete anarchy. Till then, the common youth expressed their anger and disapproval of such a lifestyle only through social media.

The street anarchy is said to be a manifestation of years of public distress over corruption, unemployment and general economic decline. According to the World Bank, Nepal’s unemployment rate is 10.7% in 2024, remaining above 10% for over three decades. This is much higher than the 4.3% South Asian average and 4.9% global rate.

The high joblessness and stagnating per capita income have driven many Nepalese to seek employment in India and other countries abroad. According to some estimates, about 8 lakh people leave Nepal for greener pastures abroad. This is a staggering figure for a country of about 30 million.

With the people of Nepal leaving the country in droves, the foreign remittances to GDP ratio is peaking. Former Ambassador of India to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri said Nepal’s receiving remittances is the fifth highest in the world, underlining the fact that a high ratio of Nepal’s population is working abroad as there are no jobs at home.

“I see a genuine frustration in this protest, unlike the March pro-monarchy rally, and it looks to me similar to the Indonesian model of protest that took place in August,” said Dr Nihar Nayak of the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.

He backed his point by arguing that these protests are not led by any single leader or political party, unlike what happened in the case of Bangladesh. Also, the protesters have attacked all major political parties and their leaders also. So the uprising was genuine. “In that case, how can anyone say that these protesters are representatives of some political party or leader?” he wondered.

“What has happened in the past few days appears like the Bangladesh kind of protest, but if you analyse the modus operandi, it is quite clear that they followed the concept of Gen Z model of Indonesian protest movement,” he emphasised. The protesters apparently used TikTok and Viber, which are registered social media platforms. “If we see the anarchy part, it looks like a Bangladesh kind of protest, but conceptually it is an Indonesian model of protest movement,” Dr Nayak said.

Interestingly, Gen Z see hope in the Mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shah, a former rapper. His 2022 victory showcased a generational shift in Nepal. The agitators relate to him more than other leaders since he is young and has taken a stand against corruption and the social media ban. Many say he is dynamic and goes by the rule book.

A pro-monarchy rally in March was perhaps an early indication of the people’s mood, although it was not a full-fledged protest. It was more of sympathy and support for the monarchical system. The rally took place when the King was returning from Pokhara to Kathmandu, and many youth joined the rally out of curiosity to see the King. The anger was simmering, but no one perhaps anticipated that it would take such an ugly turn.

As far as the support for the monarchy is concerned, observers do not rule out the involvement of a section of such supporters who could be fanning the current agitation. They also fear that an extreme wing of Maoists, which is not with Prachanda, wants to “create chaos” in the country. They suspect that, as the agitation took a monstrous form, some political parties may have also added fuel to the fire indirectly.

According to reports, Rabi Lamichhane, the incarcerated president of the fourth largest party, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), was freed from the Nakkhu Jail. Interestingly, all members of the RSP have resigned en masse from the lower house, and they are putting pressure to call for early elections. The RSP apparently gets support and funding from the Nepali diaspora.

There are reports that the Gen Z agitators met the army officials and proposed former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as the interim prime minister.

In this political cauldron, every stakeholder wants early elections, but can it happen? The festival season will start soon with Dashain (Vijaya Dashami), which is celebrated with much fervour in Nepal, followed by Diwali. After that, winter will set i,n and the season may not be conducive for elections. So, will Nepal go to the polls in early 2026?