Nepal's Gen Z revolt is a mirror Bangladesh should study hard

Call it what it is: a legitimacy crisis with revolutionary energy. Nepal's streets did not wake up one morning and decide to overthrow a government for sport.

- BY KHAN KHALID ADNAN

A sweeping ban on 26 social media platforms detonated public trust, protests erupted, at least 25 people (as of the latest count) were killed in clashes, and Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli resigned amid burning symbols of state power. The ban was rolled back soon after its imposition, but the fuse was already lit. This is not a tidy textbook revolution yet, but it is no routine protest either.

Let's be precise on the trigger. Kathmandu tried a hard pivot to platform regulation by blocking Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, X, and more, after the companies refused to register locally. Young Nepalis saw it as a gag order on modern life. The curfew did not cool anything. Parliament was stormed, state buildings torched, the ban withdrawn, and Oli still exited stage left.

But the spark is not the fire. Nepal has been marinating in scandal for years, from the fake Bhutanese refugee racket to gold smuggling and notorious land grabs, with big names circling accountability and often escaping it. Add to that youth underemployment and a political class that treats public patience like an infinite resource. When a government that has not delivered decides to switch off the public square that lives on phones, it advertises weakness, not strength.