Dismantling the structure of deification

Democracy is young in Nepal - it turned 17 in 2025. Ilam 26. In these shared years of growth, the year 2022 marked a sharp political turn where two faces from nonpolitical backgrounds won with a landslide victory. One became a mayor, the other a member of parliament. While the hope instilled felt new, it still operated under the recycled concept of a hero coming to save the day.

- AAKRITI GHIMIRE

The faces changed, but the existing political culture of the deification of a leader did not, and sadly has not. Post September 8, too, despite the changed political mandate, Nepal continues to seek a sole redeemer, which may only pave the way for another KP Oli to be born if the understanding of ‘leadership’ is not redefined.

Men in power have always portrayed themselves as the solution for everything. Posters of Oli with his hand up, Pushpa Kamal Dahal with his fists clenched, Balen and Rabi’s namastes with a national flag over their shoulders and an evocative song in the background, all with the same message: The hero is here. This promotion of one strongman continues to benefit them.

Unsurprisingly, this remains true even for the young voters, who have neither experienced monarchy nor feudalism. The Gen Z-ers and Gen alphas are being packaged in the same political culture with a new branding of ‘alpha/sigma archetypes’ that promote hypermasculinity. As a consequence, even when the new political faces act irrationally, their stubbornness is instead glorified because the public relates to these new faces as their dais and bhais.

In the last decade of Nepal’s flirtation with democracy, the search for one saviour has diverted priorities from policy to personality. This personality-focused leadership becomes a breeding ground for a dangerous followership; unconditionally devoted, to the extent that the followers are unable to hold their leaders accountable, and instead threaten ordinary citizens who raise questions or criticise their leaders’ actions.