Nepal Needs Healing, Not More Division

The GenZ movement in Nepal is nearing its second month. The two major festivals of Dashain and Tihar have passed in the meantime and the nation observed Chhath festival on Monday. Yet, what is usually a season of joy and celebration has felt uneasy this year. The ongoing protests, the martyrdom of young demonstrators and the ensuing episodes of vandalism, violence and arson are being examined from multiple angles. Collectively, these events have left a deep psychological mark on the nation. Entrepreneurs and businesspeople are increasingly despondent and the country once again seems to be moving through an unspoken phase of pain and uncertainty. Politically, the situation remains fluid. Nepal has witnessed political upheavals almost every decade, with major transformations in 1951, 1960, 1979, 1990 and 2006. Yet the GenZ movement of September 8–9 appears to have created an even wider ripple. Most of Nepal’s major movements have brought political change, gradually empowering citizens. The 1951 revolution ended the Rana oligarchy. The 1980 change saw democracy replaced by an autocratic system. The 1990 People’s Movement abolished the 30-year party-less Panchayat rule, but the democracy it restored was again undermined by the Maoist insurgency launched in 1996.