0:00 Hello, friends, the generation that is often said to be incapable, wouldn't amount to anything, that generation, the Gen Z, has now brought down the Nepalese government. Nepal's Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was forced to resign. And the protests have become so intense now that the Prime Minister's residence has been set on fire. The Parliament is also engulfed in flames. And their Finance Minister was chased down the streets by protesters beating him with shoes. In the midst of this, there was an unfortunate death, of the former Prime Minister's wife when their house was set on fire. So it begs the question, what led to this anger?
0:45 Was this the result of a social media ban? Friends, the answer to this is no. There were multiple triggers for these protests. Come, let's understand those in this video. On 8th September, 2025, thousands of people gathered in Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu. Most of them were 20 to 25-year-old youth, known as the Gen Z. Some were in school uniforms, some in college uniforms. This protest was organised by an NGO called Hami Nepal. And the protesters gathered in the middle of Kathmandu, were marching from a symbolic monument, Maitighar Mandala, towards the Parliament. This was a nearly non-violent and peaceful march.
1:33 But the government deployed the police, to stop the protesters. Police resorted to using water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets. Gradually, this led to clashes between the police and the protesters. Some protesters went inside the Parliament Complex. After that, the entire country was shocked to see what the police did next. The police openly fired at the protesters. with live bullets. At least 19 protesters were killed. More than 400 people were injured. These weren't rubber bullets, they were real bullets. One 12-year-old lost their life too. Obviously, one cannot remain silent after witnessing such brutality. When the Nepali citizens found out about it,
2:18 more people joined the protests on the streets. The number of protesters rose rapidly. Roads were filled with protestors. To control the people, the government tried to impose a curfew at 3:30 PM. But nothing changed. The protests kept growing bigger. Along with Kathmandu, there were protests in the cities of Pokhara, Butwal, Bharatpur, and Damak. One of the reasons for these protests, that the media has been talking about the most, was banning social media apps in Nepal. Well, this was one of the reasons, but there were other, more prominent reasons. Like, corruption. The government's misgovernance. Rising unemployment. And nepotism by the ministers in power.
3:04 Let's talk about those later, but first, the social media issue. In November 2023, the social media companies were told to mandatorily register with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and establish a local presence. The Nepali government said that this was necessary to prevent hate speech, fake news, fraud, and other cyber crimes. That's why the government was doing this. Later on, the government issued five public notices regarding this. But apart from five social media platforms, no major platform registered. Of the companies that registered, included only one big name. The Chinese app TikTok. Meanwhile, Nepal's Supreme Court permitted the government to ban social media platforms that did not register. Then this year, on 28th August, the government told social media platforms
3:51 to register themselves by 3rd September, otherwise, they'll be banned. But most of the social media companies ignored this. And so, 26 social media platforms were banned in the country. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, almost every major social media platforms were banned, except TikTok. Protesters claim that the government did so to establish control over the social media platforms, and to suppress the dissent among people. "Those have been banned by our government it is extremely against our freedom of speech, and they want to control us, just like a dictator." The truth is that, many videos were going viral on social media, exposing the corruption and nepotism in the government. The government ministers' nepo-kids and their lavish lifestyles were being exposed.
4:37 Actually, the young population of Nepal is furious about corruption, unemployment, and the economic inequality. In 2024, the youth unemployment rate in Nepal was 20.82%. Think about it. 1 out of every 5 young person is unemployed. Very few new jobs are being created, and people have to migrate to other countries to find jobs. The situation is so bad that thousands of people went to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war just to earn some money. You heard it right, friends. By February 2024, more than 15,000 Nepali people, had joined the Russian military. They were being sent to fight on the front lines after only a few weeks of training.
5:31 That's why many Nepali citizens have lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war. Despite the looming danger of death, they go to Russia because there are so few job opportunities for them in Nepal. Russia lures them with lucrative offers to join its army. Some fighters say that with the bonus and salary, they earn about $4,000 in a month. A bit more than 500,000 Nepali rupees. Had the Nepali politicians been a bit empathic in such circumstances, perhaps the situation wouldn't have gotten this bad. But they did the exact opposite. The Nepali politicians' sons started showing off their luxurious lifestyles. "On one hand, the children and grandchildren of these politicians can be seen flaunting easy and lavish lifestyles, in the photos, foreign trips, collection of expensive goods."
6:18 People saw this irony on social media. And they began talking about it. #NepoKids began trending. When social media apps were banned later, The Nepali netizens flooded TikTok with such videos. By the Nepali youth. These videos show a simple comparison. The problems faced by the Nepali masses in their daily lives, compared to the lavish lifestyle of the children of politicians. These nepo kids wear designer clothes and show off their luxury cars. #NepoKids and #NepoBaby began trending on TikTok too. Some posters from the protests on 8th September called this out. "Politicians' children bring Gucci bags from abroad" "And the children of the common people are brought in coffins." This referred to the Nepalis killed in the Russia-Ukraine war.
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8:38 If you haven't joined already, you can go check it out now, using the link given in the description below, or you can scan this QR code. Apart from this, corruption is a big problem in Nepal. The youth of Nepal is frustrated with the same handful of 70-year-old politicians. They take turns to be in power like a rotation. There were protests in March regarding this. Many people said that Nepal's experiment of becoming a Republic failed. And perhaps it should go back to be a monarchy again. This is noteworthy that people are so frustrated with the politicians that they began thinking of withdrawing democracy, and going back to setting up a monarchy. Friends, before 2008, Nepal was a monarchy. The head of the state wasn't a person chosen by the citizens, rather, there was a king. Their last ruler was King Gyanendra.
9:24 There were two major movements to overthrow him. The Democracy Revolution of 2006, and the Maoist insurgency that had been going on for years. On 28th May 2008, the monarchy was officially abolished, And Nepal became a Federal, Democratic, Republic. "We believe that all of us, will work hard together, to make the dream of new Nepal come true." It has been 17 years since then, and during these 17 years of democracy, Nepal's government has changed 13 times. The Prime Minister's post was held by KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Sher Bahadur Deuba. The power kept rotating among these handful of politicians. They'd form coalition and then break apart. There are two dominant political forces in Nepal, the Nepali Congress and the Nepali Communists.
10:11 There are two major parties of the Nepali Communists. Communist Party of Nepal- United Marxists and Leninist, and Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist Centre. These parties ally with smaller parties, come into and go out of power. But the heads of all three parties have been accused of corruption. The head of the Nepali Congress, former PM Sher Bahadur Deuba is accused of taking an illegal commission for purchasing aircraft. His wife Arzu Rana Deuba, she's the Foreign Affairs Minister of Nepal, is accused of presenting Nepali citizens as Bhutanese nationals using fake documents. By doing so, they could be sent to America as refugees. The head of CPN-MC, and the three-time Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is accused of diverting money meant for Maoist guerrilla fighters and stealing billions of rupees.
10:56 And the head of CPN-UML, and the most recent Prime Minister, KP Sharma Oli, is being investigated in a corruption case for violating an order of Nepal's Supreme Court, to convert a tea estate into a commercial plot. Similarly, three other former Prime Ministers are accused of selling government land to private individuals. The problems is that, it's been a practice since 2006 that no investigation can be carried out against a politician for any policy decision. This gives the corrupt politicians immunity for their actions, leading to even more corruption. Friends, now imagine, amidst this inequality, unemployment, corruption, and nepotism, if the government imposes a ban on social media; the anger and frustration among the people had reached the tipping point, and after this ban, it exploded completely.
11:48 By banning all major social media apps, the few remaining resources of employment in Nepal were in danger. Tourism plays a significant role in Nepal's economy. And it depends heavily on social media for outreach and bookings. This ban completely disrupted the tourism industry. Apart from this, millions of Nepali families were also impacted, who used online messaging apps to contact their family members working abroad. According to an estimate, more than 7 million Nepali citizens live abroad for their jobs or studies. Friends, these fuelled this protest even more. And then when people took to the streets to protest peacefully, the Nepali government reacted like an authoritarian government. Not letting people protest. Deploying police and shooting at the protesters.
12:36 To defend its ban, the government relied on the same old nationalism. It's often used by governments to suppress criticism against themselves. The Prime Minister said that he would not bow down to arrogance, or accept anything contrary to national interest. But eventually, the government had to give in to the protesters. First, the Home Minister resigned on moral grounds and the ban on social media apps was lifted. But the protesters weren't appeased yet. The residences of the Prime Minister and the President were set on fire. Even the residence of the Opposition Leader was set on fire. The army had to use helicopters, evacuate the ministers and officials. And then finally, on 9th September around 2 PM, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli resigned. Friends, at the time of making this videos,
13:21 the protests have not died down. Systemic reforms are being demanded. Nepal's army chief has addressed the nation and asked for peace. Friends, Nepal is a live example of what happens when those in power try to suppress the voices of the people completely. When real issues like corruption, unemployment, and nepotism are ignored. This is a lesson to all governments. They shouldn't ignore the needs of the people so much that things get this bad. Because friends, it is equally true that, if things do get this bad, it gets really difficult to re-establish law and order in the country. Some anti-democracy groups are using these protests to talk about bring back monarchy. But that would be wrong. The solution should always be found in a democratic setup. And I hope that Nepal can arrive at a peaceful and long-term solution.
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