Nepal has been thrown into instability again, K.P. Sharma Oli’s ouster being the 13th change in 17 years.
A sudden and blanket ban on social media in Nepal last week was the trigger for a mass youth upsurge that quickly resulted in the overthrow of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli.
Oli’s office said on Tuesday that he resigned to allow the emergence of a political solution to the social media issue. But in the resignation was hidden a belated acknowledgement that he had failed to give Nepal a decent government.
Last week, Oli banned several widely used social media networks, including Facebook, X and YouTube, on the grounds that they had failed to comply with a new requirement to register with the government and submit to governmental oversight.
The government’s case was that while social media platforms, operating globally, generated billions of dollars in annual revenues for themselves, they paid little or no tax in the countries they operated in because they did not have a physical presence there.
South Asian governments have been wanting to put an end to this situation by drawing up new rules.
But the ban on Facebook, X and YouTube was seen by the youth of Nepal, who were major users of social media, as a brazen attempt by Prime Minister Oli to throttle freedom of speech.
Social media had 14.3 million users in Nepal as of January 2025. The number of accounts covered nearly half of the total population of Nepal. Some 72.8% of adults were using it.
On the other hand, the government feared that with nearly three-fourths of the voting population actively using social media, the platforms could be used to spread “misinformation” or “subversive” content.
The youth, however, considered these “fears” as a “sinister ploy to quell dissent.”
Therefore, the agitating Nepalese youth not only demanded the lifting of the ban on social media but also Oli’s ouster from office.
As reasons they cited the all-round failure of Oli to give Nepal a meaningful government and his crushing of dissent with a heavy hand.
All political parties, including Oli’s coalition partner, the Nepali Congress, and even a faction in Oli’s own Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), echoed the youths’ demand for Oli’s exit.
Oli, once a popular and plucky Communist leader who refused to be cowed down by the economic blockade imposed by powerful India in 2015, is today seen as a non-performing Prime Minister and a dictator with scant regard for the needs, aspirations and sensitivities of people.
Oli has now gone the way of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh. Once a popular and effective leader of Bangladesh, Hasina was seen as a dictator from January 2024 onwards and was ousted in August that year by a mass movement.
19 Killed in Police Firing
Monday’s rallies in Kathmandu against the social media ban swelled to tens of thousands of people who surrounded the Parliament building. “Stop the ban on social media. Stop corruption, not social media,” the crowds chanted, waving the Nepalese national flag.
A nervous police force opened fire on the demonstrators, killing 19 people. The Nepalese media said that the country has seen people’s movements in 1950, 1990 and 2006, but never before had the government killed 19 people in a single day.
The killings led to Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak quitting the government. The Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development, Ramnath Adhikari, also resigned.
In his resignation letter, Adhikari said that instead of recognising the citizens’ natural right to question the rulers and stage peaceful protests, the Oli government responded with widespread suppression, killings, and use of force, “moving the country towards authoritarianism rather than democracy.”
As it happened in India, where “Khalistani separatists” were blamed for the successful farmers’ agitation in Delhi, Oli justified his hard line by blaming unnamed “infiltrators” who, he said, could not be allowed to hold the nation to ransom.
However, subsequently, Oli did see the writing on the wall and lifted the ban on social media. But this did not stop political leaders and the agitating youth from continuing to call for his resignation.
Senior Nepali Congress leaders, including Shekhar Koirala, asked the party to quit the government. The main opposition, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), also issued a statement demanding Oli’s resignation.
Stepped Up Demands
Meanwhile, the agitators stepped up their demands to include a ban on those leaders who had failed multiple times when voted to power. Such leaders should not be allowed to return to public office, the agitators said.
The other demand was the establishment of an independent, transparent and impartial watchdog similar to an ombudsman, to hold officials accountable for corruption, abuse of power, and injustice.
Western Missions, Embassies Express Concern
Seven Kathmandu-based foreign embassies and the United Nations expressed serious concern over Monday’s killings of protesters by police.
“We are deeply saddened by the violence seen in Kathmandu and elsewhere in Nepal today, including the tragic loss of life and injury during demonstrations,” the embassies said in a joint statement on Monday night.
“We extend our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, all those affected, and wish those injured a swift and full recovery,” the statement issued on behalf of the embassies of Australia, Finland, France, Japan, Korea, the United Kingdom and the US said.
“Our governments reaffirm our strong support for the universal rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, avoid further escalation, and ensure that these fundamental rights are protected,” the statement added.
Likewise, Hana Singer-Hamdy, the UN resident coordinator for Nepal, expressed sorrow over the loss of life and injuries during Monday’s demonstrations. “Heartfelt condolences to the families affected. I urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint and caution ensuring that citizens can safely and peacefully exercise their democratic rights,” she wrote on the social media platform X.
Roots of Oli’s Unpopularity
Nepalese commentator Achyut Wagle writes that Oli had rendered Nepal a “dysfunctional, largely derailed democracy.”
It was not long ago that Oli enjoyed wide popular support for standing up against the blistering economic blockade by India in the aftermath of the promulgation of Nepal’s new constitution in 2015. However, Oli never elevated himself to be a statesman, Wagle says.
“Instead, he stuck to his pet traits of chicanery, machinations and brackish apolitical retorts. Lately, megalomania, hubris and a penchant for self-righteousness prevented him from listening to sane counsel essential for good governance. The goon-style politics which he promoted throughout his political life is perhaps his greatest weakness,” Wagle adds.
“There were conscious and persistent efforts to curtail media freedom, censure social media and limit individual freedom. Both the federal facet of the constitution and the spirit of republicanism were often trampled. The federal government, by ominous designs, expended a lot of energy to recentralise political and economic decision-making,” the commentator points out.
“Taking advantage of a comfortable majority in both houses of the federal Parliament, the government treated both lawmakers and Parliament as order carriers of the government. Not a single bill of national importance was properly discussed in the House.”
A Foreign Hand?
There is a view that foreign forces and Western commercial interests hostile to the pro-Beijing Oli – such as the US, India and the social media companies – could have been behind the youth agitation.
There is also a theory that the ousted Nepalese monarch Gyanendra and his followers could have had a hand in it.
But it cannot be denied that the anti-Oli movement stemmed from his own failures. The monarchists are undoubtedly an important lobby in Nepal and they have the support of India’s ruling party, the BJP, and the Rashtriya Swayamsewa Sangh (RSS). But the monarchist lobby has been weakened considerably since King Gyanendra was overthrown in 1990.
Chronic Instability
Nepal has been politically very unstable. With Oli’s departure, Nepal has now seen 13 changes in the premiership in 17 years. Unless the political parties put their heads together and devise workable rules of engagement, the country will see more instability. And until stability is established, Nepal will continue to be a happy hunting ground for international meddlers.