How Generation Z revolted against South Asian misrule

Joblessness and corruption have felled governments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in the last three years. But analysts tell the storm is far from over

- Shweta Sharma

When Sri Lankans stormed the country’s presidential palace in 2022, the images shocked the world. In the three years since, similar upheaval has rippled across South Asia: mass protests overthrew Bangladesh’s government last year, and Nepal has now been hit by a youth movement that has seen its parliamentary estate torched.

At first glance, each crisis looks distinct: Sri Lanka's financial meltdown and dynastic rule, Bangladesh's spiralling inflation and unemployment, Nepal's endless coalition quarrels and corruption scandals. But analysts say a common thread runs through all of them: broken governance, public resources siphoned off by elites, and a young generation of South Asians no longer willing to tolerate misrule.

And other countries in the region may go the same way, the analysts warn, if they don't urgently address similar challenges.

“There are important country-specific factors, but [also] a common set of drivers,” Paul Staniland, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, tells The Independent. “[These] include slow or slowing economic growth, governments seen as both corrupt and ineffective, and decentralised, quick-developing protest movements that are somewhat distinct from existing political parties.”

The uprising led by Gen Z that felled the government in Nepal, a Hindu-majority nation of around 30 million people wedged between India and China, was a storm long in the making. The government's sudden ban on major social media platforms was only the match that lit the fire.