On the occasion of the commemoration of Constitution Day this year on September 19 (Asoj 3), Sudan Gurung, one of the prominent youth leaders of the Gen-Z protest cautioned the Nepali Congress General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa against squandering away the ‘invaluable gains’ of the revolt. These gains need to be assiduously preserved for long-term peace, prosperity and progress of Nepal. This is the only way to avert another intense protest of such a nature next time, he alerted the politician. The Gen- Z of Nepal like any other youth around the world have grown up in a global digital world of internet and smartphones as "digital natives" known for their tech-savvy approach in everything they do or think. Be it education, business, profession or their personal time with friends and family members, they can’t think of life without smartphones, iPod and laptops.
They were, no doubt, rendered both ‘numb’ and ‘dumb’ when Nepal Telecom, a state-owned company functioning under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, decided to deactivate 26 social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp and others. The Government of Nepal, by deactivating several digital sites (and platforms) under the Prime Minister KP Oli, appeared to have infringed the series of democratic fundamental rights guaranteed to citizens of Nepal in part-3 of the existing Constitution: right to live with dignity (Article-16), freedom of opinion and expression (Article 17-2a), right to communication (Article-19), right to information (Article 27), right to privacy (Article 28), right regarding education (Article 31), right to language and culture (Article 32), right to employment (Article 33), right regarding labor (Article 34), and right to health care (Article 35).
The government disconnected itself from people in general by severing the connection of some of the most popular digital platforms, leaving the citizens all flustered, hardly expecting the show of blisteringly explosive anti-establishment emotions simmering for a long time due to several other issues of misgovernance and political mismanagement of the country. The Nepali youth (Gen-Z) hit the streets in tens of thousands in different parts of the country, especially in the capital city Kathmandu on September 8-9 to register their protest against the government’s decision to ban social media platforms. Surprisingly, the Nepal government was gobsmacked when the Gen-Z protesters marched on in open revolt to gherao the government offices and politicians’ houses including the Office of the Prime Minister, parliament, Supreme Court and private enterprises suspected of having unholy nexus with politicians and their family members.
The killing of 19 people on the first day of the protest on September 8 threw the protesters in a tizzy and shook the conscience of the entire nation. The reluctant Prime Minister KP Oli under the army protection was forced to resign on the next day of the protest followed by other ministers. However, Gen-Z's rage against the decade-long functioning of the government didn’t subside even with the resignation of the Prime Minister and his few ministers. Their protest assumed the proportion of ‘revolution’ in the entire country on September 9 against the corrupt and greedy ‘baby boomers’ who used politics of convenience with frequently compromised ideologies to stay in power. Often laced with ‘luscious’ nationalistic jargons, their verbal barbs against the political opponents never discouraged them from shaking hands together and amassing huge wealth for personal aggrandisement to live ‘over-the-top’ life style at the cost of teeming millions who require sustainable resources for living only an average decent life. Baby boomers never shied away from quoting constitutional provisions, democratic rights and persuasive political phrases of which they themselves are guilty of violation and its non-observance. Their shenanigans with constitutional provisions that they were part of framing the same have struggled hard to deliver ‘good governance’ to the people.
Nepali youth got disenchanted by the so-called ‘messiahs of democracy’ and the institutions they had erected in the name of transforming the country.
By the time Sushila Karki (first woman chief justice of Nepal) assumed the office as the interim Prime Minister with the support of the Gen-Z protesters, not less than 72 people had already lost their lives and property of worth 3 trillion Nepali rupees ($21.3bn) which equals to nearly half of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) went aflame in this sudden revolt. The Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) has confirmed that Gen-Z protests have caused destruction of private sector enterprises worth nearly five percent of the country’s GDP through vandalism and arson. The Gen-Z protesters raided the palatial houses of ‘baby boomers’ politicians only to unearth ‘hoarded’ wealth as well as unaccounted liquid money of different denominations that comprises Nepali and foreign currencies, too. These ‘baby boomers’ were heard saying that they would transform Nepal into Switzerland – a land of opportunity and also promised the citizens for floating Nepali ships laden with merchandise in the oceans all across the world. Instead of practicing ‘clean’ politics in a newly acquired democracy, they were caught with their ‘unclean’ hands engaging in unethical power-driven maneuverings soaked with opportunistic politics.
The interim Prime Minister has made it clear to all that the next general elections will be conducted on March 5, 2026 in order to form a new government. However, this has not ended the serious lingering concern regarding getting a corruption-free, accountable and responsible government after the due elections are held as the same political parties with same political faces will participate in it. The existing mixed electoral system – the first-past-the-post and proportional representation are unlikely to allow a single political party to gain majority seats in the ‘House of Representatives’ in order to form a stable government for a tenure of five years. We have seen how chiefs of political parties chose to send their ‘kith and kin’ to fill 110 seats in the lower house of parliament through a proportional representation system irrespective of their personal merit and ability. This proportional representation has never allowed a single political party to gain majority in the lower house and risked the country’s political stability since the time the present constitution was promulgated in 2015. It is very likely that again a coalition government will be formed after the scheduled general elections. As it has been happening, the political parties will enter into a deal to form a government ‘turn by turn’ to grab the ministerial positions in a hierarchy of power structure both at provincial and federal level.
Besides, there are various other provisions in the constitution that demand immediate attention for amending them to bring peace, progress and stability to Nepal. Debate has ensued with regard to constitutionally doing away with provincial governments or downsizing their size in Nepal. It is because the maintenance of two tiers of government (not including the local level government) incurs huge administrative costs. The recurrent expenditure of Nepal that includes operational costs such as salaries, allowances and administrative expenses are far higher than the capital expenditure. For a country like Nepal, it should be just the opposite where an ‘altruistic’ approach to ‘minimum government with maximum governance’ must be practiced by spending on creating a base for manufacturing, agriculture and service sectors with a view to creating fair opportunities in trade, businesses and employment. What is more shocking is to have such a large number of elected representatives at federal and provincial level draining the treasury every month on salary and allowances where PCI (per capita income) of the country, as the Ministry of Finance declares it, is just USD 1,496.21 a year. This is the reason Nepal is called a rent-seeking country, thanks to the ‘baby boomers’ politicians working for their own vested interest.
A rent-seeking approach in Nepal has fatally dented the bright prospect of youth living within and outside the country. Individuals or groups with government connections have been exploiting public policy and government hierarchical structures for personal benefits. They have consistently opposed the efforts which lead to increased productivity or wealth creation in the name of different versions of socialist and communist ideologies making Nepal a land of less business opportunities for Nepali youth as well as friendly foreign investors/manufacturers. This tendency or behavior driven by political ideology, where resources are sought and distributed without producing new wealth, promotes political violence in the name of inequality and political privileges when proponents of such ideology are atrociously seen with huge unaccounted wealth abandoning the rest of the countrymen ruing on their fate of being governed by this lot. This rent-seeking approach leads to economic inefficiency, obstructs development, speeds up migration and finally undermines government institutions. Dirty party-politics are played out shamelessly to make and break the government for wresting ‘illegal’ wealth and government positions. This trend has been witnessed quite vividly at the federal level and also in some of the provinces under the new structure of federalism.
All over the world, the trend of ‘minimum government with maximum governance’ is in great demand in order to get rid of red-tapism, nepotism and corruption with the help of digitally transparent administration powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence).
How to clean up this existing brand of Nepal’s politics? Does Nepal need so many elected representatives in both houses of federal parliament and provincial legislative assemblies with all the ostentatious paraphernalia and a huge team of bureaucrats to sustain them from the state's treasury? All over the world, the trend of ‘minimum government with maximum governance’ is in great demand in order to get rid of red-tapism, nepotism and corruption with the help of digitally transparent administration powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence). However, Nepal with slightly less than 30 million people has been thrown under the wheels of a double-decker administrative bus running on the road of federalism with several accidents reported on the way. We saw how the Nepali youth got disenchanted by the so-called ‘messiahs of democracy’ and the institutions they had erected in the name of transforming the country. As it occurs to the Nepali youth that the goal of the present day politicians is not to deliver the ‘good governance’ to people. Politicians are rather using the system of democracy for their own interest and want, therefore, the hard-earned democracy to fail by showing utter neglect of the people’s interest.
Another grave area of concern is the hasty creation of commissions (enshrined in Part-27 of the Constitution) under pressure devoid of judicious political insight. It is impending on the parliament to ingeniously merge them under an intelligent ‘heading’ to save the energy and cost of the nation to urgently safeguard the national security of Nepal vis-a-vis neighboring countries. The aftermath of the Gen-Z protest is the most opportune time for all the stakeholders to come together and review the ‘pros and cons’ of commissions formed under Part-27 of the present Constitution by invoking the power given via Article 265 which says that the ‘Federal Parliament’ shall, after ten years of the commencement of this Constitution, review the Commissions formed under this Part. Nepal is a land of diversities and treating one minority religious group exclusively over the rest creates discord and discontent within the country. This also poses a threat to national security. Nepal’s Constitution has expressly declared a pledge to protect religious and cultural minorities. However, Article 264 talks only about Muslim Commission as a religious minority and ignores any mention of whatsoever nature about Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Kirat, Khas-Arya and Christians who also make immense contributions to the country and their presence is vital for the country.
Therefore, Article 264 of the Constitution must be amended to create a ‘Minority Commission’ by putting all the religious minorities of Nepal together under one ‘heading’ with adequate provisions of eligibility criteria to occupy the position of chairperson and its other members. Unlike before, controversial political appointments must be avoided to preserve the dignity of ‘Minority Commission’ as it will tinker with the approach of fairness to gain the confidence of other religious minority groups who felt ‘deserted’ otherwise. For ten long years, there has been no representation of other minorities in a commission formed under Part-27 of the Constitution. Just think about two religious minorities, Buddhists and Kirats, if not all, who constitute around 10 percent and 3 percent of the total population of Nepal, respectively. They would have been easily accommodated if Article 264 had created a ‘Minority Commission’ instead of having an exclusive ‘Muslim Commission’. This is the right way to promote a politics of justice and fairness.
One must remember that exclusivity (in a false garb of inclusivity) attached to any community in the name of vote-bank politics through appeasement makes them believe that they are having superior status in comparison to others. As a result, they resist coming together in times of national emergency to stand with their own countrymen. Therefore, loose (or random) wordings of provisions is very dangerous to national security and long term demographic composition of a country. No political ideology or politician wins if the very core of the country vanishes, as it is apparent from the Gen-Z revolt. Similarly, Indigenous Nationalities Commissions under Article 261 must be worked upon diligently to include all the indigenous groups of Nepal under one umbrella in order to preserve their original identity and prevent them from nefarious design of sponsored religious conversion often undertaken due to lack of cultural awareness and apathetic Government’s response. These are few highlights, amongst others, to streamline the constitutional provisions for effective political governance of Nepal for all the generations right from baby boomers, Gen-X, and to Gen-Y and most certainly Gen-Z, too. Hopefully, Nepal’s Gen-Z protest will not lose its ‘objectives’.
(Binod Kumar Pathak is an editor (of academic books), educator and academician)
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