Nepal's Gen Z know who they are against; but who are they fighting for?

The GenZ violence that engulfed Nepal is not only against nepo-babies - its anger is broader and riddled with contradictions, making the task ahead for interim PM Sushila Karki a tough one

“Discord” is the social-media platform Nepal’s newest political group, GenZ, is currently using to hold consultations. Nothing could be more apt. 

The paroxysm of rage that lasted 40-odd hours and spilled out countrywide earlier this week has led to the destruction of property to which no value can be put. Singha Durbar, the soaring edifice built in Baroque style in Kathmandu, for instance, was constructed in 1908 as a private residence, later repurposed as the secretariat and the Prime Minister’s office. Today, it lies virtually gutted. So do the Supreme Court; most of the Nepal Parliament; offices of chief development officers in many of Nepal’s 77 districts; private businesses like Bhat Bhateni, Nepal’s only organised retail business; the Hilton hotel; and the residences of half a dozen ministers and other structures. More than 20 are dead, the youngest among them a 13-year-old. Nepal is mourning: Yet exultant. 

The destruction and killing might have continued. The reason for the suddenness with which it stopped lies in Nepal’s political economy. The median age of this country is 25. Agriculture employs 68 per cent of the population. Young people can rebel, sure. But then there are goats and cows to be tended, fields to be watered, bhatta (soybean) and makai (corn) to be graded and sorted … 

Sujeev Shakya, who describes himself drolly as CEO (chief eternal optimist), is the founder of the Nepal Economic Forum, a Kathmandu-based, private sector-led economic policy and research institution. He says that despite challenges the economy is in fine fettle. Since 2004, its gross domestic product has increased sixfold from $7 billion in 2004 to $44 billion in 2024. Nepal is the third-highest globally in terms of private-sector credit growth. Remittances have soared from $2 billion to $11 billion in 20 years, providing household consumption and investment. Social indicators have improved, with life expectancy moving from 54.77 years in 1990 to nearly 72 in 2024. Primary-school enrolment is close to 100 per cent, and the literacy rate has increased from 59 per cent in 2000 to 76 per cent in 2024. Eighty-one per cent of the people of Nepal live in their own homes, and four out of five Nepali families have at least one member working or living abroad. 

The problem lies in politics, the only route to quick enrichment. The nature of the scams that have been reported in recent times is revealing. One of the leaders affiliated with the GenZ movement was sprung from prison by a 50,000-strong mob while he was awaiting trial in at least five cases of loan default — money borrowed from cooperative banks and never returned. He became the country’s home minister. Another former home minister was arrested after he offered, for a fee, the documentation of Nepalis as fake Bhutanese refugees to facilitate resettlement in the United States. Another home minister who resigned in the wake of the current upheavals was being investigated for his role in human trafficking. More than 400 Nepalis pass through Tribhuvan International Airport every day after getting jobs abroad. A posting as an immigration officer at the airport is controlled by the home ministry and is highly prized. It sustains a string of supporting businesses: Travel agents, passport-issuing authorities, fake-documentation experts … 

An explanation offered for the rise and development of the GenZ movement is anger against privileged nepo-babies: Entitled young people born into privilege. But it is much more complex than that. The protest is against a dysfunctional system and the targets were all those who have helped to sustain and perpetuate this system. 

We know what GenZ is against. But what is it for? And who are they? Deconstructing a mob is not easy. It comprises GenZ, an amorphous NGO-like organisation; TV anchor Rabi Lamichhane’s Rashtriya Swatantra Party, which was formed in 2022 and which stormed to power in 2023, winning more than 20 seats in the parliamentary polls; supporters and admirers of Balen Shah, the controversial mayor of Kathmandu; and monarchists represented by self-styled supporter of former king Gyanendra, Durga Prasain, charged with loan default, detained, and currently out on bail. According to news filtering out of Kathmandu, when talks were on about an interim government, some members of GenZ walked out of the meeting, refusing to sit at the same table as Mr Prasain. 

Managing these contradictions is a job that Nepal’s interim Prime Minister, retired chief justice Sushila Karki, has been tasked with. The road ahead is not easy.