FOLLOWING last September’s demonstration of people power in Kathmandu, the consequences promptly ensued. The prime minister quit after two days of protests that sometimes turned violent, and 77 protesters lay dead, some of them still in their school uniform. The army briefly took control, but rapidly made way for an interim administration led by former chief justice Sushila Karki, which announced elections and an inquiry into the violence of Sept 8-9.

Last month’s elections delivered a scathing verdict against the political parties that have guided Nepal’s destiny across recent decades, with voters offering the relatively new Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) an almost two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament. The enthusiasm appears to have been based mainly on the popularity of the party’s prime ministerial candidate, Balendra Shah, a rapper who has served as the independent mayor of Kathmandu.

At 35, Balen, as he is known, is only marginally older than the Gen Z cohort that provided a convenient tag for last year’s rebellion. He was sworn in as PM last Friday at 12:34pm — an auspicious moment according to astrologers, although indicating an adherence to superstition. His ascendancy nonetheless signifies a departure........

© Dawn