Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and his cabinet ministers resigned in the face of growing public outrage and widespread criticism, both domestically and internationally, over the protesters’ deaths.

Provoked by the deaths of protesters on Sept. 8, angry young demonstrators burned down several government buildings across the country, including the parliament and Supreme Court. Several politicians’ residences were also set on fire, while leaders of major political parties went into hiding.

The Nepali Army has mobilized troops on the streets to take control of the situation, but power has not yet been officially transferred to a new government.

Political protests and public uprisings are not new in Nepal. The country’s first mass uprising in 1990, labeled Jana Andolan I, and the second in 2006, called Jana Andolan II, both called for major changes in the political system. The governments that followed failed to meet the public’s hopes for real reforms.

For the first time in the country’s history, a protest of this size has been entirely led by young people from Generation Z, born roughly between 1997 and 2012. Out of the nearly 30 million people in Nepal, around 40 percent belong to this generation.

Growing up in a digital culture shaped by internet and social media platforms, this generation has lived through Nepal’s worst years of political instability and frequent government changes: There have been 14 governments in the past 15 years.

In 2015, Nepal shifted from a constitutional monarchy to a federal republic. But this massive change has delivered few improvements for everyday people. Despite some improvements in roads, electricity and the internet, inequality, political corruption, elitism and nepotism continue. Making the situation even worse is an unemployment rate that exceeds 10 percent overall, and more than 20 percent for young people.

In a country where more than 73 percent of households own a mobile phone and around 55 percent of the population uses the internet, social media platforms are not only a source of entertainment and networking but also a way of amplifying political voices, especially when traditional media is perceived as biased toward political interests.

Nepal’s Gen Z is using social media as both a social and political space. The #Nepobaby hashtag is often trending on TikTok, while Instagram posts detail the lavish lifestyle that politicians and their children enjoy, compared to the hard reality of many young people who work low-wage jobs or have to leave the country just to survive.

On Sept. 3, the government banned these social media platforms, citing a directive that requires companies to register in Nepal. The government justified the move as necessary to control fake news, misinformation and disinformation.

But Gen Z saw the ban as censorship. The frustration spreading on social media quickly turned into a nationwide uprising. The coalition government lifted the ban on Sept. 8, but this move could not save it.

The protests in Nepal mirror similar recent movements led by young people elsewhere in Asia, especially Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Like Bangladesh in 2024, the young protesters in Nepal were frustrated with corruption and joblessness. Similar to Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya movement in 2022, Nepal’s protests fought against inequality and nepotism, resulting in the collapse of the government. And like the Indonesian student protests in recent weeks, Nepali protesters relied on memes, hashtags and digital networks, rather than party machines, to organize.

What comes next for Nepal is unclear. The army chief is now coordinating with Gen Z activists to set up an interim civilian government that will prepare for fresh elections. This is a remarkable shift: The youth who shook the streets are being asked to help shape the country’s political future.

Yet challenges remain. The young protesters are still a loose, leaderless network lacking the experience to run a state system. After an online meeting on Sept. 10, the protesters reportedly agreed to propose former chief justice Sushila Karki, now in her 70s, as leader of the interim civilian government.

In addition, Nepal’s key institutions, such as the courts, the bureaucracy and security forces, are still largely dominated by older elites. Any attempt to shift power might face resistance.

Perhaps Nepal can take a lesson from Bangladesh’s recent experience, where young protesters stepped in to help form an interim government under the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

Despite the challenges ahead, the uprising has provided a historic opportunity to fix Nepal’s broken government system. But real change depends on how power shifts from the old guard to new leaders, and whether they can address the structural and systemic issues that drove young people to the streets.

---

The writer is a lecturer at The University of Queensland. This article is republished under a Creative Commons license.