Drunk with power

Kathmandu Mayor’s wayward acts have diluted the hopes of alternative politics from young leaders.

When Balendra Shah, aka Balen, was ushered into the political spotlight after his modest success as a rapper, he was taken to be a representative of youth anger. He had not only sold the people the dream of using his engineering skills to improve the urban planning disaster that was Kathmandu Metropolitan City, but he had also emerged as an alternative to career politicians. After all, he seemed a class apart from at least two of his immediate predecessors, Bidya Sundar Shakya and Keshav Sthapit, who had gained notoriety for gross inefficiency and personal misconduct, respectively. But just a few months into his tenure, Shah began to show what he really is: An unthinking, immodest man with an exaggerated sense of self-importance.