By: Nava Thakuria -
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- Balendra takes charge. AP Photo Nepal’s new prime minister Balendra Shah is wasting no time, having ordered the arrest of the immediate past premier and others in an action denounced by opponents as executive overreach and which has brought hundreds of protesters from the old regime into the streets. The new government has unveiled a massive 100-point agenda focused on anti-corruption, transparency and meritocracy in public service, offered a formal state apology to the Dalit community for historical discrimination, pledged to focus on job creation to reduce the mass migration of youth seeking work abroad, and said it would prioritize accessible health and education for the poor.
On a geopolitical level, Nepal, population 29.5 million, has long been described as a political football between giant neighbors India and China, a dynamic that appears to have reached a turning point with the introduction of a new generation of leaders focusing on anti-corruption and economic reform rather than ideological loyalty to neighbors. Analysts suggest the new leadership may favor India due to deeper cultural and educational ties. Balendra, for instance, studied and lived in India, potentially providing a “bread and blood” connection that serves as a setback for China’s expansionist regional strategy.
Accordingly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi quickly lauded the new leadership, with Balendra expressing his eagerness to work closely with New Delhi to advance relations. Chinese premier Li Qiang also congratulated the new government and reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to strengthening bilateral relations. Waves of new generation Balendra’s new Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP), founded in 2022, rode the waves of a young generation following an unprecedented welter of violence that drove former premier Khadga Praosad Sharma Oli out of office last September. Mobs burned the 122-year-old palace housing the prime minister’s office as well as the Home, Finance and Health ministries, the Parliament, the Supreme Court, other lower courts, the anti-corruption commission and the offices of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist, or UML), the Nepali Congress and the Maoists.
The 35-year-old Balendra, who won national approval as Kathmandu’s reformist mayor from 2002 to 2006 after a career as an engineer and rapper musician, was sworn in as Nepal’s 40th premier on March 27 after the RSP secured a historic mandate, winning 182 of 275 seats in the House of Representatives. A 15-member cabinet also took the oath of office at a ceremony held at Sheetal Niwas in Kathmandu. Balendra called for a cabinet meeting in the evening hours in which the new government resolved to fully implement the report of an enquiry commission probing the Gen Z movement that killed 76 individuals, including 19 young people, last September. The 907-page report recommended legal action against Oli and others for their collective criminal negligence and recklessness in dealing with the violent uprising.
The next morning, the Kathmandu police picked up Oli, 74, from his residence, followed by the arrest of former home minister and Congress leader Ramesh Lekhak. Another Congress leader and former energy minister Deepak Khadka was arrested on March 29 on alleged money laundering charges. Oli and Khadka were hospitalized. Despite pleas by family members and party workers, the Supreme Court refused to offer relief although the court asked the new government to clarify the grounds for their arrests and submit a written reply. The Kathmandu district court granted a five-day judicial remand for Oli and Lekhak, later extended for two more days.
Hundreds of Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) supporters took to the streets demanding his release, launching prolonged protest demonstrations across the country. CPN-UML lawmakers have raised the issue in the Parliament, claiming that Oli didn’t order the security forces to fire on the protesters and labeling the arrests as political revenge. The Congress leaders demanded a fresh and transparent investigation into last year’s agitation, terming the commission as inadequate. The demand was turned down by the newly-appointed home minister Sudhan Gurung, who said no one was above the law.
More troubles await the three former premiers as the Balendra government has launched a high-level probe over money laundering against Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba and Marxist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda, who led the decade-long anti-monarchy Maoist movement in Nepal from 1996 to 2006 that resulted in the killing of over 17,000 people including insurgents, security personnel and Nepali citizens.
But legal experts denounced the arrests under the National Criminal Act, which makes them subject to up to 10 years of imprisonment. They argued that an urgent warrant of arrest is meant for anybody who may flee the jurisdiction, and that the accused could simply have been barred from leaving the country. Many critics pointed out that a commission report cannot be accepted as the final piece of evidence and that the recommendations must be authenticated by subsequent investigations.
The new government has made it clear that it will move to clean the system with its reform plan, which also bans party politics on campuses and restricts student-run unions, which will be replaced with nonpartisan Student Councils within three months. Teachers, civil servants and employees are also prohibited from joining in party activities. The government also offered job and rehabilitation facilities to those affected in the anti-government uprising.
The Kathmandu Post editorialized that “the era of the old guard, defined by ego-tussles and a disconnect from the modern world, is hopefully over and the era of the youth has begun.” As Kathmandu’s mayor, the Post said, Balendra’s focus was on clean, effective and hassle-free governance, with the same energy hopefully expected to spread to the national level. Nepal’s modern political history remains rife with examples of government failures due to intraparty feuding. Since the monarchy came under constitutional control in 1990, Nepal has seen the formation of 33 governments, added the editorial, concluding that the challenges ahead for the government remain high, but optimism has been sweeping the country.