Editorial: Nepal’s turmoil isn’t ‘democratic protests for justice’

No amount of packaging to make it appear as people’s moment can justify the mindless violence being unleashed on the country’s streets

Nepal has plunged into a crisis of Himalayan scale with a violent mass upsurge shaking the very foundations of the country and leading to the resignations of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and several of his ministers. The tiny nation of 30 million people is staring at an uncertain future and prolonged political instability. What began as a campaign by the ‘Gen Z’—people born between 1996 and 2010 —against the government’s ban on social media platforms soon turned into an unprecedented street violence that spiralled out of control. Protestors went about dismantling the country’s democratic structure, attacking all three arms of the government — the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Legislature. They stormed, looted, and torched the homes of the President, Prime Minister, and other ministers, chased and assaulted the ministers, officials, and their family members, and set fire to the Supreme Court and parliament buildings. Leaders across political parties and their families had fled their homes, fearing for their lives. One should stop romanticising such turmoil as ‘democratic protests for justice’. What is happening in Nepal is anarchy. Pure and simple. No amount of packaging to make it appear as people’s moment can justify the mindless violence being unleashed on the country’s streets. It is unfortunate that some analysts on social media, speaking from the luxury of distance and the comfort of insulation from consequences, tend to characterise these developments as a new dawn to build a just society. There is nothing alluring about destroying the foundations of democracy and going after the enemies, both real and perceived.

The irony is that the ruling coalition of Communist parties, which has since collapsed, comprised a Marxist-Leninist outfit and Maoist Centre, which had their ideological origins rooted in romanticising the armed rebellion, and are now getting the taste of their own medicine. The Nepal government had last week banned 26 social media sites, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, X, and YouTube, for not complying with certain regulations, a move largely seen as an attempt to muzzle the voices of critics and media freedom. The anti-ban protests were emblematic of a larger churn in Nepal, characterised by frustration and restlessness among the youth over political and administrative corruption and shrinking job opportunities. Job creation is slow, inequality worsened by climate vulnerabilities and natural disasters, is high, and many among the young have left the country. According to a World Bank report, Nepal’s reliance on remittances, which has been central to the country’s growth, has not translated into quality jobs at home, reinforcing a cycle of lost opportunities. A staggering 82 per cent of Nepal’s workforce is in informal employment, far higher than global and regional averages. The only way forward is to seek a resolution of the crisis through dialogue and work out an agreeable roadmap for systemic reforms. At present, there is a political vacuum and instability of unprecedented scale and complexity.

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