Birendra P Mishra, Kathmandu, 12 Nov.PM Sushila Karki has expanded her cabinet for the third time by adding two more ministers on October 26, which still remains incomplete, as one nominee has refused to join the cabinet and another has been dropped due to his controversial past. So far, only one minister represents Gen Z, as it is really difficult to choose right representatives out of different groups. The Gen Z uprising overthrew the Oli government through the mass protests held on September 8 and 9, 2025, against the banned social media platforms, the rampant corruption, bad administration and overlooking their future.
The pervasive despair of the people and especially of the youth was caused by their expectations of better life being watered down by the present dispensation with the frequent changes of the government for the sake of sharing power by the three political parties, the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the lavish lifestyle of politicians and their kith and kin, together with making all sorts of facilities to all those who were supporting them in acquiring and perpetuating them in power. These piled up explosive factors/ materials waited to be ignited by a simple spark.
However, explosion was delayed, as sufficient pressure could not be built up due to the pressure valve releasing pressure through the constant departure of the youth force in thousands for seeking jobs abroad. The people were helpless despite their frustration. The ban on social media platforms proved to be the immediate cause to ignite the explosive, as Gen Z could not remain silent any longer being deprived of their main source of information, communication, entertainment, and especially their role as a learning aid for college and school going students. Though their presence in school and college uniform, the media platforms sought their physical support, the rally was almost without any leadership. Of course .their massive presence inflated their number so overwhelmingly big that could not be controlled by the police force that resulted in the killing of 19 protesters followed by setting fire to the government buildings, media and business houses, banks and hotels etc. through out the country.
Sadly, the mass, which lacked leadership was hijacked by those groups who wanted to take revenge to not only the political leaders but also to the government institutions and commercial institutions against whom they had some grudges like those who were dissatisfied with the present democratic setup, living standards of the leaders and their relatives and deprived of misusing of the state fund and natural resources. The security agencies were unable stop the arson, vandalism to save their own lives.
The present condition is not the outcome of the failures of one government or two. It is an accumulative effect of the past, as rulers did not care for the welfare of the common people. Nepal state always remained a political project and never became a peoples’ project. Of course, the present predicament hastened the scenario to unfurl. The country has enough foreign exchange due to increasing remittances ,on th one hand and about five to six million workers working aboard and about two thousand departing daily by air despite a large number of people from the western districts are going to India, on the other.
Nepal valley( Kathmandy valley) became a Nepal state with the political project of Gorkha King Prithvi Narayan Shah of expanding the boundaries of his tiny principality. It was materialized with the capturing of Kathmandu Valley, in 1769. its boundaries went on expanding until it was stopped by the Kangra (India) and the British East India Company, which was equally expanding its territories and the Company squished the border through the Treaty of Sugauli in 1816.The Rana regime extended support the British in the both World Wars to keep them in good humour to keep their political project in tact.
However, the resentment among the people, dissatisfaction of king Tribhuvan and Nepali Congress’s armed revolution in 1950 needed negotiations in Delhi, which resulted in a’ Compromise Formula’ to make Nepal a Peoples’ Project by establishing democracy through a constitution framed by an elected Constituent Assembly (CA), provide recognition to the King and give continuity to the Rana Prime Minister and formed a coalition government with the Nepali Congress. However, it could not materialize partially.
The resurrection of the Shah dynasty continued its earlier stand on its political project. King Mahendra ignored the CA issue and proclaimed a constitution to hold parliamentary election. Within 18 months he dissolved the elected government ant parliament and introduced party less Panchayat system. King Birendra followed suit.
The 1990 people’s movement reintroduced the parliamentary system. But it could last long due to the internal bickering of the Nepali Congress and the decade-long Maoists insurgency. After the assassination of king Birendra, new king Jnanendra, who sought to rule directly, forced the seven political parties to join hands with the Maoists against the monarchy. Consequently, another people’s movement in 2006 overthrew it. The elected CA adopted an all-inclusive constitution with federalism in 2015.
During the last 74 years (1951-2025) there were 59 changes of government. Significantly, the instability continued as the latest government is the `15th since 2006.The frequent changes were necessitated only to satisfy the insatiable greed of leaders to acquire power and continue to hold as long as possible and also to accumulate unlimited wealth by any means that led to corruption and misrule. Ultimately, the Gen Z protest became imminent.
The challenges before the Gen Z movement are enormous. It was easy to overthrow the government but would be a Herculean task to eradicate corruption as it is rooted in our society. The strong collusion between politicians, bureaucracy, security agencies and judiciary will not allow any effort to eliminate it, as each of them will defend the rest for its own safety. To see that the government does not deviate from the chosen direction of the Gen-Z revolt, it has to keep watch on it constantly; otherwise their sacrifice will be lost.
