A Fairy Tale Turned Tragic

Ousted Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli’s rise and fall reads less like a sober chronicle of democratic politics and more like a fairy tale gone wrong. What began as the improbable ascent of a man from a modest background into the commanding heights of Nepal’s power structure ended with a dramatic implosion that set the country ablaze? Unlike Cinderella’s happy ending, Oli’s story is one of hubris, miscalculations, and authoritarian impulses that will long be remembered as a cautionary tale in Nepal’s turbulent political history.

Machiavelli in Kathmandu

In many ways, Oli’s political conduct echoed the philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli in The Prince, where the pursuit of power is justified regardless of the means. Driven by an insatiable ambition, he viewed alliances, ideology, and even Nepal’s long-term interests as expendable tools for securing his grip on the premiership. This belief in ends over means, reminiscent of Machiavelli’s cold calculus, defined Oli’s style of politics and sowed the seeds of his eventual downfall.

Forged in Revolution

Oli’s political journey cannot be separated from the seismic shifts that shook Nepal in the second half of the twentieth century. He was part of a generation forged in the fire of revolution, deeply influenced by Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” and the Maoist movement that emerged in the 1990s. Prachanda’s cadres waged a bloody insurgency under the banner of self-determination, seeking to uproot the old feudal order. While the Maoists initially rejected the parliamentary model, Prachanda eventually recalibrated, recognising that durable power in Nepal would only come through democratic engagement. His decision to enter the mainstream built upon earlier struggles, particularly B.P. Koirala’s democratic movement of the early 1960s, which had challenged the entrenched Rana regime and planted the seeds of republican........

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