Kathmandu’s Gen-Z Revolt: What's Happened and What's Next?

After two days of widespread protests led by Gen-Z activists that left over 20 people dead and hundreds more injured, Nepal's troubled Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli abruptly resigned on Tuesday (September 9).

His resignation and reported escape by a helicopter seemed eerily reminiscent of the way Sheikh Hasina fled to India after large-scale demonstrations that rocked Bangladesh a year ago.

However, the unrest is more than a political rebellion; it is a striking manifestation of deep economic frustration.

Nepal remains one of Asia’s poorest countries, with an unemployment rate nearing 13%. For many young Nepalese, the promise of democracy has proven hollow. Instead of job creation or industrial growth, they face a stagnant economy heavily reliant on remittances sent home by migrant workers.

Adding fuel to the fire is the pervasive corruption that has long plagued Nepal’s political class, and the flaunting of that wealth by the elite. The gap between the opulence of political elites and the everyday struggles of ordinary citizens has become too wide to ignore.

Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, became powerful tools of mobilisation, with emotionally charged videos exposing police brutality and economic despair galvanising the youth. While the government scrambled to block digital platforms and impose curfews, the protests surged forward, leaving little room for containment.

Oli’s fall now raises urgent questions about Nepal’s political future. The question being asked is will the military step in, will a monarchist revival gain traction, or will the youth movement push for a complete systemic overhaul?

As Nepal grapples with this unprecedented upheaval, observers warn of dangerous parallels with other fragile democracies in the region.

The crisis lays bare a central dilemma: Can the country break free from a history of political dysfunction and economic stagnation, or will it remain trapped in cycles of unrest and unmet expectations?

These events unfold against the backdrop of last year’s protests demanding the restoration of the monarchy – a movement that sounded, to many outside observers, archaic and regressive.

Those protests came last year, after a constitutional ‘coup’ which replaced Marxist leader Prachanda Dahal with Oli, a rival communist, who cobbled together a coalition with the country’s largest party – the Nepal Congress. As I have written before, that changeover came as Nepal was in the midst of talks to strengthen Chinese presence in the mountainous nation through its Belt and Road Initiative. A fact which had led many to allege that the the revolving chairs game played out in Nepal’s seat of power – Singha Durbar – was controlled by Beijing at one end and New Delhi at the other.

However, one has to understand that the movement for monarchy, like today’s Gen-Z protests, was not merely a protest against the round robin parlour game being played with Nepal’s governance structure. It was an expression of profound disillusionment with the system itself. Corruption in everything from airport projects with Chinese money, to visa scams and labour exports have been exploding before the astonished eyes of ordinary Nepalese for too long.

For these Nepalese, the monarchy once symbolised a centralised, stable authority – a time when governance, however autocratic, was perceived as decisive and orderly compared to the present-day political gridlock. In that sense, the yearning for monarchy was not a backward-looking fetish for feudalism, but a symbolic attempt to reclaim a national identity lost in post-monarchical political chaos.

The monarchy’s decline coincided with civil war, political upheaval and corruption scandals, deepening public disillusionment. Viewed this way, both the pro-monarchy protests and the current anti-government uprising are different expressions of the same hunger – a yearning for revival. Neither movement offers a coherent vision of the future, yet both reflect a desperation to break away from a failing status quo.

The Nepalese state now faces a dilemma. Will the military or monarchy-backed forces step in to stabilise the country, as some fear, or will the youthful “revolutionaries”, who appear determined to reject all vestiges of the past, succeed in forcing a new order?

There is the possibility of a Bangladesh-style makeover, where an imported technocrat like Muhammad Yunus and his student-led cabinet could be installed as a transitional authority. Already the name of Balendra Shah, Kathmandu’s 33-year-old mayor who doubles up as an engineer-turned rapper and musician, is doing the rounds. Nobody really knows his political alignments or his linkages with global powers.

Ultimately, we have to understand, the Gen-Z protests in Nepal embody not just a genuine social and economic crisis, but possibly a carefully orchestrated movement designed to reshape the political landscape in unpredictable ways.

As the situation unfolds, the international community, regional powers and local stakeholders must tread cautiously, mindful of not allowing legitimate dissent to be co-opted by hidden political forces.

The future of Nepal depends not merely on quelling unrest but on forging a meaningful path toward sustainable development, accountable governance and delivering dignity and opportunity to its citizens.

Nepal’s journey is not about reviving the past or clinging to outdated symbols, but about creating a future where systemic failures are replaced by genuine reform, and where the hopes of the youth no longer remain unfulfilled.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.