'Gen Z' members of Indo-Nepalese family share views on anti-govt protests, interim regime

New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) Sulekha Shah (name changed) is a Nepal-origin 'Gen Z' member born and raised in India. Along with her Nepalese parents, she watched the events unfolding in the neighbouring country with as much curiosity in Delhi as her cousins in Kathmandu.

After days of violent anti-government protests, largely spearheaded by the ‘Gen Z’ that led to the resignation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli after a massive unrest in the Himalayan nation, a semblance of normalcy seems to be returning to Nepal.

Gen Z or ‘Generation Z’ refers to the demographic group born roughly between the late 1990s and early 2010s, with birth years varying by source, such as 1996-2010 or 1997-2012.

The protests were triggered by corruption charges against the Oli government, and exacerbated by a social media ban imposed by it.

Sulekha, 24, who works with a firm in New Delhi, is "happy" with the ouster of the old regime in Nepal and a woman prime minister taking charge of the interim government, but criticised the "vandalism" and "arson" witnessed during the protests.

On Friday night, former Nepal chief justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as the country’s first woman prime minister to head an interim government, ending days of unrest that claimed at least 51 lives.

“We still don't know how it is going to play out from here, though I am hopeful that under the leadership of Sushila Karki, the situation would get better, and India-Nepal relations would also improve as she seems to have a different viewpoint towards New Delhi,” Sulekha told PTI.

After Karki assumed charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his wishes to her and asserted that "India remains firmly committed to peace and prosperity of the people of Nepal”.

Sulekha, who was born in Delhi in 2001, nearly a year after her Nepal-born parents moved to India, calls herself “an Indian proud of her Nepalese roots”.

“Even before the protests erupted in Nepal and social media was banned, I got to know through my cousins in Kathmandu, who are roughly my age, that there was a sense of unrest among the youth over the misuse of taxpayers' money.

“So, sitting in Delhi and watching the events unfold made me feel that what happened was required, which was the removal of the Oli government. But the vandalism and burning of public properties were not right,” she said.

Several landmark buildings in Nepal, including the Parliament and the iconic Singha Durbar, were damaged or torched by the irate protesters, the visuals of which were seen on TV channels and web portals with much shock by people in India and other countries.

Sulekha contended that the situation boiled over as the voice of the youth was "suppressed".

Echoing her sentiments, her Kathmandu-based cousin, Aaditya Shah (20), said it was good to see the “Gen Z people doing something for the country, seeking its development”.

“But the damage to public properties was our loss only. One should protest peacefully… Indulging in vandalism and arson is not correct,” he told PTI over phone.

Aaditya contended that many people think the protests were "just over banning social media but it's not about that per se".

“In Nepal, taxpayers' money was used for paying for the luxurious lifestyle of political leaders’ children. When the youth started speaking up against this, the government issued a notice saying there was a large number of apps, which would be banned as they were not registered,” he claimed.

After the ban was imposed, protests broke out led by the Gen Z, who tried to "expose these political leaders", the 20-year-old argued.

“Soon it started trending in Nepal, with the Gen Z members demanding that there should be no corruption in administration, and the country should move on the path of development,” he said.

Kartik Shah, 21, a student from Kathmandu, said, “I was born in Nepal, and I also participated in the protests against corruption and social media ban.” Sulekha, meanwhile, is optimistic about the road ahead but underlined that one will have to see how the situation unfolds going forward.

Reports of jailbreaks in Nepal, however, bothered her.

Three inmates were killed on September 11 in clashes with the security forces at a jail in Nepal, while over 15,000 prisoners escaped from more than two dozen prisons since the violent anti-government protests erupted there.

Sulekha and her parents are hopeful that peace will soon return to the country they all hold so dear and whose shared legacy binds the two generations born on either side of the India-Nepal border.

“My father, a businessman, was born in a town in Nepal. He moved to India about 25 years ago, first to Guwahati and then to Delhi. My mother, a housewife, was born in Janakpur, and moved to India after her marriage," she said.

Both her parents are "proud Nepalese" and none of them ever "tried to hide their roots”, she added.

Sulekha, however, lamented that she and her two younger sisters born in India, aged 20 and 18, at times have to face "unsavoury comments related to our ethnicity" from some people.

But for Sulekha, whose other family members, barring her parents and a distant relative, live in Nepal, including her nearly 100-year-old maternal great grandmother and paternal grandmother, both "India and Nepal hold a special place in her heart".

She said her mother visited her family in Nepal a few months ago, though she herself last went there about three years back.

Calling herself a 'Gen Z girl', the young professional said she can speak and understand Nepali fluently, and knows about Nepalese cuisine and culture, while her mother speaks Nepali and Maithili, besides Hindi.

Her mother's birthplace, Janakapur, is associated with Sita from the Ramayana, and holds special significance for Hindus in India.

"My parents call Nepal their 'janmabhoomi' (birthplace) and India their 'karmabhoomi' (workplace)," she said. But for her, India is both her 'janmabhoomi' and 'karmabhoomi'. PTI KND ARI