A home-grown uprising in Nepal

THE situation in Nepal today is unprecedented, unimaginable, very serious. It is a demonstration of the anger, the revulsion and the fury of the people, which has spilled out into the streets.

The lynching of senior politicians, the burning of government property, of the new Parliament built by the Chinese, of the official home of the Prime Minister, called Baluwatar, of the home of President Ram Chandra Poudel, of private homes of former and current prime ministers, is something I have not seen in my living memory anywhere in the world — not in Bangladesh, not in Sri Lanka, not in Indonesia.

This is much worse than the situation in Bangladesh just over a year ago, when the protests led to the flight of the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. It is much worse than the situation in Sri Lanka in 2022, when the homes of several politicians were burnt down, but politicians weren’t attacked.

In Kathmandu on Tuesday, former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his wife, foreign minister Arzoo Rana, were beaten up. They are lucky to escape with their lives. Former PM Jhalanath Khanal also suffered the same fate; his wife has been burnt — some say she was burnt alive.

The fact that the Nepal Army has taken all the top politicians in its security is good — fact is, today, they have no alternative but to seek shelter under the umbrella of the Nepal Army. It is too unsafe for them to be anywhere else.

And yes, the Army must step in and control the situation. It is, potentially, the only stabilising force in Nepal today. It has a very critical role to play. The country needs to return to some law and order.

What has happened in Nepal over the last two days is largely a home-grown uprising. The intensity of the violence is directly linked to the 19 people killed in the protests. If the situation had been handled better yesterday, if political steps had been taken, if Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli had announced his resignation earlier, Nepal would not find itself in the state it is right now.

The disenchantment in Nepal that has manifested in this utter chaos has several causes. The younger generation, the so-called Gen Z, is in despair. They’ve lost hope. It was a foolhardy decision to ban social media apps, there should have been other ways of ensuring that these companies abide by Nepalese laws. The malaise is very deep in Nepal.

There is huge corruption in high places. Worse, no investigation is being carried out in these scams, which, allegedly involve top leaders of political parties. Nepalis believe that the unholy coalition between the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal, UML, between Nepali Congress leader and former PM Sher Bahadur Deoba and UML leader and (just resigned) PM Oli exists because it was meant to stop investigations into corruption allegations between its top leaders. And that these two big parties came together to squeeze all the opposition inside Parliament.

The second key reason for the despair in Nepal is unemployment. There are no jobs. Large numbers of young people are leaving the country for menial jobs in the Gulf that don't even pay well.

So when the armed police on Monday tried to stop the young protestors and even used live ammunition against them, it unleashed a fury in Nepal that was never seen before. I have seen pictures of young children in school uniform bleeding from shotgun wounds.

This anger against the political parties is manifesting across the board — the Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), the Communists. It points to a deep sense of alienation that Nepal’s young people feel about their political parties and the kind of governance they provided.

Significantly, this is a nameless, faceless kind of agitation. Unlike the ‘jan andolan’ or ‘people’s movement’ of 2006, when the political parties as well as the Maoists led the charge against the monarchy, one doesn’t really know who the leaders of this ‘andolan’ are or what their demands are.

Significantly, the young people leading this spontaneous uprising are also protesting against what they call “nepo kids” or “nepo babies”, the children of rich politicians who flaunt their luxurious lifestyles on social media. That has caused a lot of resentment amongst the Nepalese. These young people travel in fancy cars, live in palatial bungalows while the poor — well, the poor have nowhere really to go.

It is important to note that this agitation is taking place across Nepal, in the Kathmandu valley and in the Terai, which shows the extent of alienation in the country.

Certainly, the callous manner in which this people’s agitation was handled speaks of a disconnect between the leadership and the led. It is a worrying undercurrent that the young believe that the system, the 2015 Constitution that was crafted after years of Maoist insurgency, Madhesi agitation and endless debate, is not delivering.

This was supposed to be a federal democratic, secular, inclusive republic of Nepal. But because the peace and prosperity dividend has not been forthcoming, people are questioning not just the people who implemented the Constitution, but the very Constitution itself.

Naturally, India is watching the situation closely. We have an open border between our two nations, more than 2000-km-long, along the states of West Bengal, Bihar and Uttarakhand, so security along the border has been tightened and travel across some districts completely shut down.

India has always been on the side of the aspirations of the people of Nepal. If you look at India's role in Nepal since 1950, this has always been the case. I trust that India will continue to support the aspirations of the Nepali people.

(As told to Editor-in-Chief Jyoti Malhotra)

Ranjit Rae is former Ambassador to Nepal.