Episode 41 | Unite Before You Ignite: Lessons from Nepal's Youth-Led Democracy

Jul 11
38 min read

Updated: Aug 16

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TRANSCRIPT

Adam Peter Lang 00:02

Hello, listeners, and welcome back to Season Five of Conversations for Citizenship. I'm going to be your host today. I'm Dr. Adam Peter Lang from University College London, and Namaste. We have Adasha Tanuja and Narendra from Nepal. Thank you so much for joining us here on Conversations for Citizenship, our podcast today. We at our eclectic international mix of listeners and academics, teachers, researchers, practitioners, and scholars are going to be very interested in your contributions to our discussions, our conversations about what has recently taken place in your country and what is now happening in Nepal. Certainly, from where I'm sitting today in West London, a very unreported story in the West. So, if you're ready and happy, should we get started?

Tanuja Pandey 01:00

Yeah

Adam Peter Lang 01:02

right. Thank you very much. Well, I'm going to start with a sort of general question. Our listeners are always very interested in our contributors' backgrounds, stories, narratives, so perhaps we could start with you, Narendra. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, Nepal connections, your background, you're a doctor now. Congratulations, some of your academic interests and research, and your connections to us here at Conversations for Citizenship. So, Narendra, yeah.

Nar Bahadur Saud 01:34

Thank you, Adam. It's.. I'm really happy to be here, and thank you so much for having me here. My background is in peace building, particularly focused in Nepal. So I have spent over a decade working with the youth people, particularly with the ex-combatant, following the dialog, theater reconciliation, and then the Spencer social change activities, Nepal. My research, my recent research, and my work is related with the intersections of how art and culture support peace, in particularly Nepal, and then in the broader context. So, currently, even though I am in the UK, I am ever feel connected with Nepal, so both through my work, and then personally I still keep visiting time and again as of my work, and then like a meeting family as well, so it never makes me any distance from Nepal, wherever I am. Yeah. Thank you.

Adam Peter Lang 02:47

Thank you. Thank you so much for that. And by the way, I'm saying to our listeners that if we feel as though we, our colleagues need to speak in Nepali, then that will happen, and we will translate that when the podcast comes out, so I wonder if we could go to Tanuja next. Tanuja, would you like to just say a little bit about yourself, introduce yourself to our listeners, and tell us where you are? Thank you.

Tanuja Pandey 03:14

Hi, hi everyone, I'm from Nepal. I'm a lawyer from Nepal, but right now I'm in Australia attending the women deliver, the biggest feminist gathering. I'm speaking from Melbourne right now. Besides, I'm a co-founder and chair of Harin Nepal. It's an intersectional climate justice organization, and I also serve as a strategic head at Intergenerational Civic Forum. It's a democratic hub of Nepal, and besides, I also work as a consultant at one of the Asian Development Bank projects as a prevention specialist in GBV, gender based violence.

Adam Peter Lang 04:00

Gosh, thank you so much. That's incredible. So we're very pleased to have you with us today, Tanuja. Now, now, next on to Aadarsha, could you just introduce yourself to our listeners?

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 04:14

Thank you, Adam. It's a really pleasure to be here. My name is Aadarsha Bikram Singh. I am a public speaking trainer, motivational speaker, content creator, and founder of the Raising Talents.Alongside my work with students, I have also been directly involved in youth led civic engagement. Recently, I lead a GenZ protest moment in Karnali province, where we raised our voices for better governance, accountability, and stronger democratic practices. Through both my professional work and this moment, I have been closely connected with young people and their growing. Role in swiping Nepal's future. Thank you.

Adam Peter Lang 05:03

Well, thank you very much. And goodness me, what a great list of contributors that we got here today on our conversation. I'm really looking forward to getting into this now. Thank you so much. Now I could ask perhaps Tanuja and Adasha, if you could tell us a little bit more about your reflections now on sort of young people, students, Gen Z, its involvement in what's happened in your country, pretty dramatic changes in the last year, in the last months. What do you think some of the causes of this, and can you tell us about your involvement as well, and in some of the dramatic details, perhaps.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 05:45

Okay, yeah, I think I think I saw in Karnali is a clear example of how powerful youth voices can be. This was not just a participation, I had the opportunity to lead a Gen Z protest/movement, where they were many young people came together and to demand, demand account, demand accountability, and better governance. The causes were deforestation, lack of opportunities, and feeling that the system was not responding to citizens’ needs. What was what was powerful was that young people were not just about reacting emotionally, they are organized, aware and clear about their demands. I think so.

Adam Peter Lang 06:42

Yeah. Oh, thank you. What would you say, Tanuja, to that question?

Tanuja Pandey 06:47

Yeah, I would like to give a bit of background on what actually caused movement in Nepal. I'll give a personal instance. I'm 24 years old now, and I've been seeing the same people in power my entire life, and it's the same people playing the musical chair of power, and general people of Nepal were paying the price of their greed, and it was not just that, you know Nepal sees movement like this in every decade, and there's hundreds of Nepali people dying for change, and the circle of impunity - it's like a loop, the same things happening over and over, and state failing to express the basic need of people is something that had accumulated the frustration among the people, so if you see in Nepal every day around 15,000 people, they leave the country, and there are 1000s of students leaving country for higher education, and the saddest part is that many seniors, basically from our parents' generations, they had to leave to Gulf countries just to earn their minimum, which is like 20,000; 30,000 Nepali rupees, and then now their children, majority are in Australia and America, and the audacity of the state to say that, oh, you guys are privileged enough to afford Australia and America or other developed country is something that triggered everyone, basically, because our parents were forced to leave this country, and now our generation is even forced to leave this country, and if you see the reason behind this out migration, it's all for the same reason, nothing has changed, it just the country that changed, but not the reason, so people were really frustrated, and what we saw on eighth of September on 2025 was the eruption of that frustration. It was, it was the volcano within the people that just brushed it out. And Nepali people are very resilient, you know. They always, they have always put, they have always put trust on the leaders, but this time all our politicians have tested the patience of the people for a very long period of time. So the movement happened, and unfortunately we have lost 76 of our friends and even a lot of economic damages because of the vandalism in us and that took place on ninth of September and however you can you can see through the you know after right after the movement how Nepali people were very cooperative. The how, how they coordinated with the government to form an interim government, and how they make sure that that government does not cross its constitutional lines, so is the democratic values that Nepali people hold, and with the constant lobby of youngsters and the given mandate to the interim government, we had our election on time, and that's where youth movement found its electoral expression, and now the country is back to its democratic track, but it is yet to see how it will go in coming days.

Adam Peter Lang 10:47

Good. Well, thank you very much. You both talked about the causes of it, and before we go on to where you are now, and post election, I wonder if you could just help with our listeners, by you talked about the eighth of September, is that the time when the government sent the troops out to actually shoot demonstrators? I think you mentioned a figure there. Did you say 76 people lost their lives in this uprising or protests? Do you call it a protest or uprising,

Tanuja Pandey 11:22

it's a so, if you, if GenZ had an agreement with Government of Nepal, and the agreement has clearly mentioned it as a movement, and now this government has the mandate to make it a revolution, because revolution brings the systemic change, and we are yet to see the change. So now we will stick with the legal words, that is movement,

Adam Peter Lang 11:53

right? Okay, and let me just move on then now to the elections. Again, I believe that the elections happen fairly quickly compared with other countries. If you take, we were doing a topic on Bangladesh a while ago, and there was a real frustration in Bangladesh with students, but the country actually about the time lag, I think it was 18 months, but you had.. when did you have your elections? Do you want to both tell us a little bit about that, and how that happened? Did some political parties come together, and was there some dynamics there that we can learn from, or you can share with us?

Tanuja Pandey 12:36

Yeah, so basically, first thing is that Nepali people, if you see the history, political history of Nepal, Nepal's people have always been receptive to the movements, always. So they have welcomed the movement, they have welcomed the changed with all their hearts, and that is something that gives our democracy alive. And second thing is that I give credit to our former Prime Minister of the interim government, Sushila Karki, that she was, he was very diplomatic with all the political parties and forces, and she was able to convince that the, that this election will happen fairly, and because of our constant effort, all political parties participated in the election. And third thing is, I would also like to acknowledge the establishment forces of Nepal, that they coordinated with the GNG movement, that they respected the mandate of the movement, and that they entered into the, and they participated in the election itself. Without them, the election could not have happened. So there, I respect their, and I acknowledge their coordination. And the fourth thing is that the youth, I see every youth, if we have other share here, and we have lots of young people out there who are constantly looking for why we should vote, why we should vote, and why countries should go through the election, and these are the four factors that actually, you know, created the circumstances and created the environment where a fair election could happen. Also, there were a lot of doubts on people whether the election could be peaceful or not, because we have lost lots of weapons too. However, the way Nepal's Nepali security forces, be it Nepal army or Nepal police, coordinated and made sure that everything would happen on time, and every everything would happen peacefully, is something that gave hope to the people, and that's why people were out there, and people celebrated this election like a festival, you know, people were there with big smile, with the shiny eyes, and you know, most imp. Importantly, with the hope that the country will change its direction after the election, so I think it's basically the spirit, the democratic spirit of Nepali people that they hold is something that something that made the election possible.

Adam Peter Lang 15:18

Yes. Well, thank you for that. That's very inspiring, actually, and certainly that all this change happened so quickly, and arguably peaceful, not peacefully, totally, but it could have been very much different. Aadarsha, what do you, what do you think about what we've just been talking about? I mean, I'm picking up that what the young people were saying in your country resonated very much with the other citizens, which was combined together with this movement for change. Do you have any further reflections

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 15:53

or not in the sun? Would you?

Nar Bahadur Saud 15:56

Okay, wonderful. समग्रमा हेर्दा, के भन्न सकिन्छ भने युवापुस्ताले उठाएका आवाजहरू अन्य नागरिकहरूमा पनि व्यापक रूपमा प्रतिध्वनित भएका थिए, र त्यो साझा असन्तुष्टि र परिवर्तनको चाहनासँग जोडिएर एउटा ठूलो आन्दोलनको रूपमा विकसित भएको देखिन्छ। यस सन्दर्भमा तपाईंको थप धारणा के छ?

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 16:34

Okay, I think I am totally comfortable with my native language, Nepali, so that's why I, I will talk, talk in Nepali. I'm sorry for my language.

Adam Peter Lang 16:46

no, no, no, please don't apologize.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 16:50

(This part is the English translation from Nepali)

Okay. So, I think our country is quite unique geographically, and because of that, information spreads very quickly here. Especially among the younger generation, like Gen Z, communication happens so fast through social media and digital networks. For example, in our context in Karnali province, information was circulated very quickly among the youth. On September 7, around 11 pm, we shared messages calling people to come forward for the movement. We asked them to gather at Mangal Bazaar Chowk and raise their voices. Because the information spread so fast, a large number of people came out and participated. At that point, we were continuously questioning the authority and raising our concerns against the government. It felt like a do-or-die situation. There was a strong feeling that if we did nothing, there would be no alternative left to challenge the old political parties. At first, our voices were ignored. The political system had been the same for years, with parties taking turns in power like a kind of musical chairs. There was widespread corruption, and people could clearly see what was happening in government activities over the last 30 to 35 years. Young people became more aware. We could see everything around us—videos, reports, discussions—and that made us more conscious of the situation. Many who were newly entering politics or becoming politically active started to realize these long-standing problems. Because of that awareness, there was a strong commitment to address these issues during this moment of change. That’s why some new political collaborations and movements started to form. For example, leaders like Rabi Lamichhane and Balendra Shah became symbolic figures for many young people. They represented change—Rabi Lamichhane through the party leadership, and Balendra Shah as a youth icon in Nepal. Together, they were seen as trying to bring youth issues to the centre of politics, trying to convince people that the concerns of the younger generation would finally be addressed. So overall, we were trying to build trust among the public, to show that this movement was about listening to the people, especially the youth, and responding to their concerns.

मलाई लाग्छ हाम्रो देश भौगोलिक रूपमा पनि निकै फरक र विशेष छ, र यही कारणले यहाँ सूचना धेरै छिटो फैलिन्छ। विशेषगरी युवा पुस्ता, जस्तै Gen Z बीच, सामाजिक सञ्जाल र डिजिटल नेटवर्कमार्फत संवाद निकै छिटो हुन्छ। उदाहरणका लागि, हाम्रो सन्दर्भमा कर्णाली प्रदेशमा पनि सूचना धेरै छिटो युवाहरूमाझ फैलिएको थियो। सेप्टेम्बर ७ तारिख, राति करिब ११ बजे, हामीले एउटा आन्दोलनका लागि मानिसहरूलाई अघि आउन आग्रह गर्दै सन्देशहरू पठायौँ। हामीले उनीहरूलाई मङ्गल बजार चोकमा भेला भएर आफ्नो आवाज उठाउन भनेका थियौँ। सूचना यति छिटो फैलियो कि ठूलो संख्यामा मानिसहरू सहभागी भए। त्यस बेला हामी निरन्तर रूपमा सत्ता र सरकारलाई प्रश्न गरिरहेका थियौँ, र आफ्ना चिन्ताहरू उठाइरहेका थियौँ। त्यो अवस्था एक किसिमले “do or die” जस्तो महसुस हुन्थ्यो। यदि हामीले केही गरेनौँ भने पुराना राजनीतिक दलहरूलाई चुनौती दिने कुनै विकल्प नै बाँकी रहँदैन जस्तो लाग्थ्यो। सुरुमा हाम्रो आवाजलाई बेवास्ता गरियो। राजनीतिक प्रणाली वर्षौँदेखि उस्तै थियो—दलहरू सत्तामा आउने र जाने, मानौँ एउटा “musical chairs” खेलजस्तै। यस बीचमा व्यापक भ्रष्टाचार पनि देखिन्थ्यो, र मानिसहरूले सरकारभित्र के भइरहेको छ भन्ने कुरा प्रस्टै देख्न सक्थे—पछिल्ला ३०–३५ वर्षका गतिविधिहरू मार्फत। समयसँगै युवा पुस्ता अझ सचेत हुँदै गयो। हामीले वरिपरि भइरहेका सबै कुरा—भिडियो, रिपोर्ट, छलफलहरू—देख्न थाल्यौँ, र त्यसले हाम्रो चेतना अझ बढायो। राजनीतिमा नयाँ प्रवेश गर्ने वा सक्रिय हुन थालेका धेरै युवाहरूले पनि यी दीर्घकालीन समस्याहरू बुझ्न थाले। त्यही चेतनाको आधारमा परिवर्तनको यस समयमा यी मुद्दाहरू समाधान गर्ने बलियो प्रतिबद्धता विकास भयो। त्यसै कारण केही नयाँ राजनीतिक सहकार्य र आन्दोलनहरू पनि बन्न थाले। उदाहरणका लागि, Rabi Lamichhane र Balendra Shah जस्ता नेताहरू धेरै युवाका लागि परिवर्तनका प्रतीकका रूपमा देखिन थाले। उनीहरूलाई परिवर्तनको प्रतिनिधि रूपमा हेरिन्थ्यो—रबी लामिछाने पार्टी नेतृत्वमार्फत, र बालेन्द्र शाह युवापुस्ताको प्रतीकका रूपमा। उनीहरूलाई युवाका मुद्दाहरूलाई राजनीतिक केन्द्रमा ल्याउने प्रयास गरिरहेको रूपमा बुझिन्थ्यो, र युवापुस्ताका सरोकारहरू अन्ततः सम्बोधन हुन्छन् भन्ने विश्वास दिलाउने प्रयास भइरहेको थियो। समग्रमा भन्नुपर्दा, हामी जनतासँग विश्वास निर्माण गर्ने प्रयासमा थियौँ—विशेषगरी युवाहरूको आवाज सुन्ने र उनीहरूका सरोकारहरूलाई सम्बोधन गर्ने आन्दोलन हो भन्ने कुरा देखाउन खोजिरहेका थियौँ।

Adam Peter Lang 21:03

in here a minute? Aadarsha, Aadarsha? Could I just thank you so much. Just for our listeners, we will get that translated when the podcast comes out. Thank you so much. I'm sorry to interrupt. I'm just trying to keep the flow of the meeting going, and Narendra, are you able to just very briefly perhaps tell us a little bit about what Aadarsha was saying there with English?

Nar Bahadur Saud 21:34

Okay, so he had raised two, three point, very important, so he talked about the mainly about September 8, before September 8, so he raised the first question, is about like now youth generation is very like familiar with the social media, and then they knew the what are the existing problem in the country, like corruption, like the political parties' negligence toward the good governance, I like such problem over the migration, and there are lots of problems, and they were raising this issue, and then the suddenly the government banned social media before, before September 8, and that is the main one of the main cause that the movement came forward, and then that what created that space means he raised one concern. Now the youth are able to question the authority, they can question the authority, because the now the youth are not like the generation before, the generation like previous generation, so they can question, and then they also want answer to that question as well. This is the one like the hero is one equation, and another is the youths have lots of frustration because they don't have any alternate because they want to build their country, but the existing political parties are not creating that kinds of environment, so they are looking for the alternative political party, so as for him, he said that they, they have internal or informal lobbies for some political parties, so who can come together and address these issues, so they played instrumental role as well, and then the he gave some example about how the people were like gathered in his district, particularly they massively mobilize the social media, and they appeal the people to come and express their dissatisfaction to the government. Otherwise, you won't have any alternative to like sustain the country. So this is the time you help us to raise your voice, so that we can overthrow the current government, and we can restock the rest of the country.

Adam Peter Lang 25:08

So, what I'm picking up very strongly from that. Thank you so much. Is the importance of social media in the vanguard of change. Can I just reflect, am I right in thinking that there are many young people now actually elected in the parliament in Nepal? Would that be the case?

Nar Bahadur Saud

Yes, I think Tanuja might have a better idea on this, but mostly even our Prime Minister is in only just 36 years. This had never happened in Nepal, then even in the, in the world scenario, that is rare care, and then most of the like youth from the marginalized communities, and then different representing the different regions, women. And even now there is a representation from the third gender, so that's quite impressive, interesting. Yeah, most of the people interesting, and

Adam Peter Lang

your leader is I rising, thinking of Balendra Shah, and he was the former mayor of Kathmandu. Yeah, and I mean it's portrayed over here. He was a former rapper or involved in youth movements, is that right?

Nar Bahadur Saud 25:25

Yes, obviously it is. Still, he raps that I would say he even currently raps at the least. Recently had really the one song, so I would get either I focus on the art and peace, and then this, his artistic background has helped him to be a one leader a lot. I believe,

Adam Peter Lang 25:48

I mean, we've seen that with President Zelensky in Ukraine, haven't we? Is his background before. So, can I just ask, particularly our contributors, what's the present situation now like in Nepal, are they optimistic for the future, and the other bit we're trying to look at is, are there any lessons that your country is giving to other parts of the world in terms of this form of change and development? I just wondered what your reflections are on that, perhaps Tanuja, might you respond to some of those?

Tanuja Pandey 26:26

So it just been the seven months of the movement, and a month and a month and a half after the election, so we haven't seen much to, you know, have a conclusion on what the government is doing right now, so we are basically in the in between the gray, in between the white and the black zones, so we are somewhere at the gray zones, basically, but having seen the work of government till the date, I think it's a mixture of both optimism and also some disappointment. Optimism in the sense that we can, we have, we can see the young faces in parliament. They are the, there are some MPs who rose out of this movement and the optimism also lies in the fact that our, you know, this time we kind of, Nepali people kind of break the generational curse, because before, if you observe the election of Nepal, it used to be the people who have money wins the election, but this time the people voted out of, you know, optimism with the hope, and also second thing is that in this election, another very important thing is that people were not sure that election will happen or not, and they were not sure about getting absolute majority, and it was famously said in Nepal that in the system, in a political system like ours, it is impossible to get the majority, so this time this thing was even, it was dismantled that Nepal got almost nearly 2/3 majority, and another thing is that even after the, you know, election, after the election, government are, you know, focusing, they are, they are doing things very rapidly, and they are dismantling the system, sometimes they are coming up with the new policies, and they are basically testing everything, but, but the my fear lies in the temptation that government has now, because sometimes when you don't have the clear ideological stand, and when you, when you don't have map, and, and you do all this tasting without it, and trying to make a country a playground is some something that can lead to a danger or an accident, basically, because after seeing the work that this government is doing right now. I feel like they have three kinds of temptation right now, and first temptation is that they want to dismantle all the existing institutions, but they don't have the plan, like what to do next. And second temptation is that they are suppressing the internal debates, basically anyone who, who basically dissent is criminalized now, because anyone who speak against the government are, you know, tagged as the anti-government or supporter of pro-establishment. And even the changes you know who question the government are attacked with a lot of online and hate abuse and even threats, basically, and third temptation of the government is they are moving way too quickly, and a period of transition is very risky, and one mistake can lead to another disaster. Basically, so I think if government, if they try to work on these three parts and prioritize the prioritize human rights, prioritize good governance, and prior prioritize the basic mandate of the people. Then this government could, you know, produce something good that this country has never seen before. They have a good chance to do that. However, the way they are moving way too quickly without the clear road map is something that kind of that raise a concern right now at the moment.

Adam Peter Lang 31:04

Thank you very much. And I'm conscious of time, there's so many questions we'd like to ask, but I wonder if I could ask both of you this question in your engagement with this, and obviously you're significantly engaged in it. It's fantastic to hear this. Are there any influences you've had, writers, philosophers, academics that have, because you're both fired up with I can see it, I can hear it in your voices and see it in your eyes, actually, but is there any influences or that you've referred to or keep you in this time,

Tanuja Pandey 31:43

could you please repeat the question?

Adam Peter Lang 31:45

Yeah, sorry, I'm just wondering if there are any influences upon you in terms of your thinking to do with all of this. Perhaps that's a, you don't need to answer that question if you don't want, but

Tanuja Pandey 31:58

influence from,

Adam Peter Lang 32:01

well, it could be academic, it could be philosophical, it could be political, it could be I don't know somebody in your country. I was just wondering,

Nar Bahadur Saud 32:12

के तपाईंलाई लाग्छ कि नेपालमा भएको त्यो आन्दोलन कुनै न कुनै रूपमा कसैबाट प्रभावित भएको थियो? त्यो प्रभाव शैक्षिक, दार्शनिक वा राजनीतिक हुन सक्छ—वा सायद तपाईंको देशभित्रका कुनै व्यक्तिहरू वा विचारहरूबाट पनि हुन सक्छ। म केवल बुझ्न चाहिरहेको छु।

Tanuja Pandey 32:34

Okay, I wish I wish they could have been influenced by some ideology, but fortunately it does not seem so, and you know, I feel like this is how populism works. You basically confuse people by not showing the clear ideological stand, by not showing whom you are influenced by, and because you know, when a few days ago, Balen Shah, he almost a month ago, he says he said in his one of his speech that he, he is the socialist, and the next day he was out there capturing and arresting YouTuber who spoke against him, and the other next day he's there dismantling and you know force forcing the evacuation of squatters slums and you know this is how they are working right now so we are not in position to say influenced by but at the end of the day, this is how populism works, like you divert them, like divert the mind people, and but now I think they are being influenced by populism.

Adam Peter Lang 33:52

Okay. Well, thank you. That's for Aadarsha. Did you have anything to contribute on that?

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 34:00

(This part is the English translation from Nepali)

Okay. So, I say this in Nepali. Right now, I’ve been thinking a bit differently. I sometimes reflect on ideas I’ve seen in Hindi cinema, where you see a very active kind of protagonist—someone who immediately fights corruption, challenges politicians, and tries to fix everything directly in the field and in the system. People can get inspired by those kinds of stories, but personally, I don’t think we should be influenced too strongly by anything external like that. For me, the main focus is something else. The real issue is solving the problems that exist in our society. These are problems that affect ordinary people. And at the very least, people should be able to live with dignity in their own country. At the same time, I don’t feel completely disappointed or fully critical of the current government. They have only been in power for a short time, and they do hold a majority. So, I think we should give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we can give them more time—some people might even say up to a reasonable period—to see what they can actually deliver. If after that time they are still not able to address the key demands of the younger generation, or the wider social and economic issues, then of course people have the right to raise their voices and question them. But I feel that right now, it might be a bit too early to strongly criticise everything. At the same time, I am very clear on one thing—if the government fails on issues of accountability, justice, and addressing real social concerns, then I will not hesitate. I will be among the first to raise questions and speak against them at that point. So it’s a kind of balanced position: giving space and time now, but also holding them fully accountable in the future if they fail to deliver.

अहिले म अलि फरक तरिकाले सोच्न थालेको छु। कहिलेकाहीँ मैले हिन्दी सिनेमामा देखेका केही विचारहरूबारे पनि सोच्ने गर्छु, जहाँ एकदम सक्रिय नायक हुन्छ—जसले तुरुन्तै भ्रष्टाचारसँग लड्छ, राजनीतिज्ञहरूलाई चुनौती दिन्छ, र प्रणालीभित्रै वा बाहिरबाट सबै कुरा सिधै समाधान गर्न खोज्छ।त्यस्ता कथाबाट मानिसहरू प्रेरित हुन सक्छन्, तर व्यक्तिगत रूपमा म भने त्यस्ता बाहिरी प्रभावहरूबाट धेरै प्रभावित हुनु हुँदैन भन्ने सोच राख्छु। मेरो लागि मुख्य कुरा अरू नै हो।असल कुरा भनेको हाम्रो समाजमा भएका वास्तविक समस्याहरू समाधान गर्नु हो। यी समस्याहरू साधारण मानिसहरूको जीवनसँग प्रत्यक्ष रूपमा जोडिएका हुन्छन्। कम्तीमा पनि मानिसहरूले आफ्नै देशमा सम्मानका साथ, मर्यादित जीवन जिउन पाउनुपर्छ भन्ने कुरा महत्त्वपूर्ण लाग्छ। त्यसैगरी, म अहिलेको सरकारप्रति पूर्ण रूपमा निराश वा अत्यधिक आलोचनात्मक पनि छैन। उनीहरू भर्खरै मात्र सत्तामा आएका छन्, र उनीहरूसँग बहुमत पनि छ। त्यसैले हामीले केही हदसम्म “benefit of doubt” दिनुपर्छ भन्ने लाग्छ। सायद केही समय दिन सकिन्छ—कतिपयले त निश्चित समयसम्म पर्खनुपर्छ पनि भन्न सक्छन्—उनीहरूले वास्तवमा के गर्न सक्छन् भनेर हेर्नका लागि। तर यदि त्यति समयपछि पनि उनीहरूले युवा पुस्ताका मुख्य मागहरू वा सामाजिक–आर्थिक समस्याहरू सम्बोधन गर्न सकेनन् भने, निश्चय नै मानिसहरूले आवाज उठाउने र प्रश्न गर्ने अधिकार राख्छन्। तर अहिले नै सबै कुरा अत्यधिक आलोचना गर्ने समय हो जस्तो मलाई लाग्दैन। त्यसैसँगै म एउटा कुरा भने स्पष्ट छु—यदि सरकारले जवाफदेहिता, न्याय, र वास्तविक सामाजिक समस्याहरू समाधान गर्ने कुरामा असफल भयो भने, म चुप लाग्ने छैन। त्यस्तो अवस्थामा म प्रश्न उठाउने पहिलो व्यक्तिहरूमध्ये एक हुनेछु। त्यसैले यो एक प्रकारको सन्तुलित दृष्टिकोण हो—अहिले समय र अवसर दिनु, तर भविष्यमा असफल भए पूर्ण रूपमा जवाफदेही बनाउनु।

Adam Peter Lang 36:03

thank you. Narendra, could you just give some of the salient points from that?

Nar Bahadur Saud 36:08

Yeah, like, like Tanuja, he's also not very particularly concerned about the influence from anyone else, is the people are influenced by the many factor, so he had given one of the one of the references from the Hindi movie. This cinema is like one of the, the main protagonist is like acting in such a way, proactively, like actively working on the pill, and then eliminating the all kinds of problems, and fighting with the corrupt politician, and from policy as well as in the field, so people might be inspired by that sort of thinking as well, and but ultimately he believed that we don't have, be we are not influenced by anyone else, the main concern is about like solving the existing problem. These problems are related with the common people, and then the common people should have at least a right to lead dignity in a dignified way, so that we can proudly, proudly like leave in our country, and he also supports what the current government is doing, because, because of the time being, they have been very short period of time, and they are trying their best, despite the existing bureaucratic orders like and then the because the system is the old one, though the government is only new, that system is old one, it takes time, and that's he's giving like a benefit of doubt, let's give them some time, and then once they will have some time to realize if they are not getting good, so he will be the first person to rate the voice again for correct government.

Adam Peter Lang 38:08

Thank you very much. Now, just before I pass over to Dr. Stella, one last question from me: aside from listening to Conversations4Citizenship podcast, where do our listeners find out more about what's going on in your country. I wonder whether Narendra, you could speak a little bit about perhaps the contact you might have because you're living abroad at the moment. Maybe our colleagues can say where they'd recommend we can follow and find out what events that are going on in Nepal at the moment, what do you think to that, Narendra? How do you, how do you keep informed about what's going on?

Nar Bahadur Saud 38:50

Mainly, mainly we, we follow the social media, and then the newspaper, because most of the national newspapers are in the online form now, so we can easily access them from anywhere in the world, so either they are in Nepali or English, so because they have been updating the information, so and another thing is we are regularly contact with our friends and families in Nepal, and then if we have a doubt, then we can instantly contact them and can get the first hand information as well, so there's no restrictions. Yeah, no restriction yet. So, like Nepal, it's very easy to like, but obviously there's a problem. How we do, we do not fully rely on the social media, because there are lots of mission misinformation, and the social media, so it depends upon the individual capacity, and either they can rightly select or not, even that the people have been using AI to like mislead the lots of people, a lot. Of audiences, and even, even in like TikTok, like Instagram, and so on. Then we can find the lots of misleading information, and sometimes it was the problem as well. But for me, I can. I fortunately, I have a lot. I have like all kinds of ability to assess what's actually going on there, and we can sometime we can process and identify that this news or this information is right or not. If we doubt somewhere, then we can cross check with the friends and family, and then those people who are living the particular area. So we don't have a restriction in a way getting the information anywhere. Yeah,

Adam Peter Lang 40:42

Tanuja, what would you say to that? How do people keep informed about what's going on? Because obviously things are happening at quite a pace in your country.

Tanuja Pandey 40:52

Um, yeah, I agree with him, because a lot of information are going on right now, and it's really hard to keep up with all of them, and also the fact that we have to verify the information from three four sources, so I recommend that, because if three four sources are saying the same thing, then it might - there's a high chance that it might be true. So basically, there is a tussle going on around the between the mainstream media and social media platform and before, before the GenZ movement, the mainstream media of Nepal were questioned for their authenticity and for their loyalty toward the pro establishment and toward the parties and the party politicians, basically, but now the similar things are being seen in the social media, and so it's like the mainstream media supporting the pro establishment and the social media supporting the new parties, so there is a touchy going on, going on, and however, however, there are few medias after the GenZ movement. The social, the mainstream medias of Nepal are also changing. The changes are quite visible now, because they are hiring the young journalist, they are writing more of investigative articles, and also they are giving, they are verifying the sources, and also giving some of them have are practicing the, you know, practicing the reference keeping culture within the article itself is something that we are seeing new in Nepali social Nepali journalism, and besides that I totally agree with him, so that there's a fuse, you know, problem of identifying the information, however, there are few news medias that are actually now referring to the sources, is that is something that gives hope to us now.

Adam Peter Lang 42:59

Thank you, Aadarsha. Do you have any recommendations of where to follow what's taking place in your country as we, as it's taking place?

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 43:09

(This part is the English translation from Nepali)

So, I think after COVID, Gen Z has started using social media a lot more. In fact, they are really active and even enjoying that space now. At the same time, I think journalism has also shifted into a different position. Now, people can openly debate, and audiences can clearly see which online platforms or newspapers are leaning towards which political parties. Earlier, it was quite easy to distinguish that just by looking at the content—by the headlines, the tone, and the kind of stories they were publishing. But now, the situation feels a bit more positive in some ways. For example, you can take recent political movements—there are discussions where different groups and media voices are engaging more openly. Earlier, most major media sectors were clearly seen as aligned with one side or another politically. There were even perceptions that some journalist groups and institutions were closely connected with specific political parties, almost like separate camps. But now, there is a shift happening. Independent reporting and citizen journalism are becoming more visible. People are starting to report things more freely, outside of traditional structures. So what I feel is that earlier, the public was not always getting the kind of information they actually needed. The coverage was often filtered or influenced by political alignment. But now, especially with social media and more independent voices, information flow has become more open and diverse. And because of that, people are more able to see different perspectives and understand what is actually happening in society.

मलाई लाग्छ, COVID पछि Gen Z ले सामाजिक सञ्जाल धेरै प्रयोग गर्न थालेको छ। वास्तवमा उनीहरू अहिले यसमा धेरै सक्रिय छन् र रमाइरहेका पनि छन्।त्यसैगरी, पत्रकारिताको अवस्थामापनि केही परिवर्तन आएको जस्तो लाग्छ। अहिले मानिसहरूले खुला रूपमा बहस गर्न सक्छन्, र दर्शकहरूले कुन अनलाइन प्लेटफर्म वा पत्रपत्रिका कुन राजनीतिक पार्टीतर्फ झुकेको छ भन्ने कुरा स्पष्ट रूपमा देख्न सक्छन्। पहिले त सामग्री हेरेरै—जस्तै हेडलाइन, भाषाशैली, र समाचारको प्रकृति हेरेर—यो कुरा सजिलै छुट्याउन सकिन्थ्यो। तर अहिले अवस्था केही हदसम्म सकारात्मक हुँदै गएको छ। उदाहरणका लागि, पछिल्ला राजनीतिक घटनाक्रमहरू हेर्दा विभिन्न समूह र मिडिया आवाजहरू अझ खुला रूपमा छलफल गरिरहेका देखिन्छन्। पहिले अधिकांश ठूला मिडिया संस्था कुनै न कुनै राजनीतिक पक्षसँग स्पष्ट रूपमा जोडिएको जस्तो देखिन्थ्यो। कतिपय अवस्थामा त पत्रकार समूह र संस्थाहरू नै राजनीतिक पार्टीसँग नजिक रहेको जस्तो पनि बुझिन्थ्यो, मानौं छुट्टाछुट्टै शिविरजस्तो। तर अहिले भने परिवर्तन हुँदै गएको छ। स्वतन्त्र रिपोर्टिङ र नागरिक पत्रकारिता (citizen journalism) अझ धेरै देखिन थालेको छ। मानिसहरू परम्परागत संरचना बाहिरबाट पनि स्वतन्त्र रूपमा समाचार र विचारहरू साझा गर्न थालेका छन्। त्यसैले मलाई लाग्छ, पहिले जनताले आवश्यक पर्ने जस्तो सूचना सधैं पाउँदैनथे। धेरैजसो समाचार राजनीतिक झुकाव वा प्रभावबाट फिल्टर भएर आउँथ्यो। तर अहिले सामाजिक सञ्जाल र स्वतन्त्र आवाजहरूको कारण सूचना प्रवाह अझ खुला र विविध भएको छ। त्यसले गर्दा मानिसहरूले विभिन्न दृष्टिकोण देख्न र समाजमा वास्तवमै के भइरहेको छ भन्ने कुरा बुझ्न अझ सजिलो भएको छ।

Adam Peter Lang 45:31

Thank you very much. Narendra, did you want to pick out any key points from what we just heard? There, obviously, it will be translated when it comes out, I'm slightly conscious of our time. I need to pass over to my colleague in a moment.

Nar Bahadur Saud 45:46

Yeah, he raised the two main points. One is definitely the people are getting information from the social media, and then the who are the most influential, or the large number of the social media, is he pointed out the youth. Youth are using this one, and obviously that is one source. And then he raised another point, the source of is the mainstream national newspaper, or television, or these papers, but he critically analyzed the roles, role of these like mainstream media before the GenZmoment, one can critically visibly identify the, let's say, one national newspaper is belongs to or supporting to particular political party, and another is supporting to the another political party, and then by looking at their title, headlines, or the news content they can add, they could identify, but nowadays the situation has changed because the current government is not so much supported by the these media in the past, because the, the power holder, the current power holder was were criticizing them and they're against in the past, so, so he believed that this is the right time. Then the national media has started adopting this system, and they must continue adopting the sense and gist of the current to like movement, and it's going on, and he's optimistic about the situation will improve more and more.

Adam Peter Lang 47:22

Thank you very much.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 47:23

So, include the organization of journalism. Journalist,

Nar Bahadur Saud 47:28

okay? Okay, so he gave the example, then the in the, in the media houses, there were the journalist association close to the certain political party, and we, we could not aspect them, aspect the fair transparent news from them, because they obviously bias and they are supporting their political party, their political ideology. So this should be stopped right now. Yeah, that is the recommendation like that.

Adam Peter Lang 47:59

Well, thank you very much, all three of you, for your fascinating contributions to this period of change. Our phrase, actually, we're talking in our podcast about, is there such a thing as a new world order taking place at the moment, and this is a very, very fascinating and very interesting dynamic that's happening. So, so thank you so much for your time. Please apologize for my pronunciation, but am I right in saying Danyawaad?

Nar Bahadur Saud 48:29

Thank you for the, yeah, Danyawaad…

Adam Peter Lang 48:33

Daniel Bad. Right, I'm gonna now pass over to my colleague Stella.

Stella Micheong Cheong 48:37

Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Aadarsha, Tanuja, Narendra. This is fascinating. Yes, and I learned a lot from you all. The current situation also the democratization in Nepal. So, given the time constraint, and I'm going to give a two or three more questioned, the extra questions about the GenZ movement in Nepal, and also, yeah, as, as you all pointed out, the social media platform was crucial, and that online mobilization was incredibly powerful, and I also saw the #NepoBaby and #NepoKids. Can you explain more about this hashtag movement, and also I think this kind of trend that exposed a massive nepotism of ruling class, so now that all the government has fallen, and how do you sustain (digital) this kind of digital fighting fight to ensure we see real lasting transparency and meritocracy rather than the just returning to the same entrenched (politics) politicians, Tanuja?

Tanuja Pandey 50:11

Yeah, start. Yeah, so basically I feel like revolutions and even hope and change is something that is very contagious, and what we saw in last September in Nepal was not something very organic from Nepal itself, but Nepal was highly influenced by the Indonesia's Nepal baby trend movement, and I was going through social media to see, like, who posted the picture about #NepoBaby, who used the hashtag first, and basically it was international Nepali students who posted about the #NepoBaby trends, so basically they were comparing their life, like, how they have to leave country forcefully just to earn the bare minimum, and just to get a, you know, like basic level of education, and just to have a good quality of life, and at the same time they were comparing their life to that of the children's of wealthy politicians, who are, you know, living their best life, basically, so they were comparing how the wealth accumulation and how the tax paid money of general citizen of Nepal were misused by the politicians, and the base general Nepali youth and general Nepali people are basically paying the price of it was something that triggered and circulated the use of the #NepoBaby trend, and it was deeply rooted to the personal experience of people, and I think the trend got widely popular because they use, they have used the pictures and visuals are always appealing, and it's very relatable because I went through two three videos and I felt bad because I related to it too, and there are a lot of Nepali students, or Nepali in general, who relates to it, basically because every house has one person who's living to abroad to have a best life and also to earn back on to send the money to their family, and that was the reason why the trend was used. However, after the election, this 2026 March election, Balendra’s rise, and also Rastra Swatantra Party rise is the continuity of same elite driven politics in Nepal. If you see the fight, if you read the slogan of the movement, it reads something like your father is our father is in Gulf countries doing the hard works, and your father is in, your father is living in Nepal in the fancy cars. It reads something like this, the slogans, but basically, if you, (if) also, if you see the number of people who died on GenZ movement, the number of people who were killed by the state, it's all marginalized people, it's all you know people from vulnerable geographical area of Nepal. It's all people who are fighting for class and the caste struggles, and if you see the people who got tickets on election, if you see the number of people who got the representation to through proportional representations, it, it's all fancy people, people with lots of wealth, people who have good capitals, and it does not really match to the movement, to be very honest, and, and this, and even, even after that, people are still happy, and that shows that nepotism itself was not the problem, but the delivery was the problem. You know, people were never mad at the children of politicians, they were never mad at the politicians, but they were mad with the fact that they never delivered the never delivered, and never met the mandate of election, never met the mandate of public will. So basically, that's why the slogan was used, and after the election, after seeing the result of election 2026 I came to the conclusion that nepotism was never a problem to the people, it was just, you know, the corruption and all the in transparency and the states, you know, undemocratic work of politicians that pissed the people of not there, not their children having, having the good life.

Stella Micheong Cheong 55:27

Yeah, yeah, Tanuja, 100% with you. And this is amazing. Thank you so much. And Aadarsha would you like to add on the Tanusa's thought?

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 55:39

Yeah, I totally agree with Tonuja, because we, we saw, we saw that pact in our society, in our bureaucracy system, in our governments, you know, that's why September 7, September 7 and eighth, at that day we came together and this and in the stand for the against props on Nepo babies trend and ban of social media, so I, I got the conclusion of this, this overall scenario of corruption of that Nepobaby# will be trained. We are not poor; we are not corrupted. I think, I think, because I saw that there are many people who from the womb got the some opportunities and earning many more monies and building luxurious life and making their child the their lifestyle like king of the nation, you know, like a normal person, they were corrupted because they were corrupted and make that kind of lifestyle, so I asked my father a question, Baba, why, why you are not the breeze, you are teacher, you are, you are the, you are the most prestigious job in our life, in your life, but why you are not poor, why you are not nervous? When he replied, son, my son, in my whole career, in my whole profession, in my whole life, I never get the own rupees from anyone, any person, the never, never to that kind of the advantage, that kind of benefit, that kind of unnecessary, unnecessary things, the then then I emotionally like fall down because the name of father was so transparent, my father was so like my superhero, because of because my father was not crafted, I am, that's why I'm so proud of him, and also that kind of father who are not crafted, I'm totally proud of them, and also in my nation, there are like kind of people who continuously ask the question and make our country better and more organized, more transparent, more democratic. That's then that's the beauty of our nation and our generation, I think. Thank you.

Stella Micheong Cheong 58:43

Oh, wow, Adarshya, thank you so much. This is really inspiring, even touching. So, the shifting gears a bit, so your uprising democratic uprising shares so many similarities with the youth movement in, we are seeing the global south, we are seeing across the global south, but if you have any idea or advice, what practical advice to do you have for other young activists globally who are dealing with intense inter censorship or disinformation that Narendra pointed out any anti corruption? Do you have any advice? This is my last question.

Nar Bahadur Saud 59:38

I have some question repeat them.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 59:41

Yeah, I understand what. Please, first, you first.

Stella Micheong Cheong 59:46

There are you first? If you want for other share, you can start today. Yeah, yeah,

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 59:54

yeah, yeah,

Tanuja Pandey 59:55

yeah. So basically, the first advice. That I would give is unite, basically unite. The first thing is before igniting anything, first unite. So, there is a tendency that people ignite and then they unite, but but first unite and then ignite. This will, this will save a lot of your energy, this will build a collective momentum. And second advice is basically people of our generation, we tend to dismiss experience and advises of seniors, so always believe in intergenerational collaboration, because dealing with state, dealing with power. So it is not as easy as it seems to be, so always, always put intergenerational collaboration center of everything, and third is read, read the history, changes are very lazy at reading, but sometimes some reading helps a lot. So, read the history of the country, read the mistakes that have been made past, and it took easy for us to make our road maps, basically. And, and the, and fourth, fourth advice would be I think someone will have to add fourth advice.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 1:01:30

Okay,

Nar Bahadur Saud 1:01:35

okay, other, so you can continue in the from fourth,

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 1:01:38

okay? You, if there is wrong in, in your society, then first question, question, question, the authorities question, the lead your nation, who lead your society, first question, question is very, very important in our democracy. I think on his second, second is when you raise your voice, when you raise some issue, then you are, I think, the, you are alone at that time, but when your burning desire is alive, when your burning desire is growing, then many people are supported, you know, when you raise your voice, you are most, I think you are alone, but when your voice is raising, when your issue is strong, then people will support you, keep alive your burning desire, I mean, then 40 is like raid because today our reader is tomorrow, tomorrow is leader, that's why I'm like read democracy, read the lead about the biography, read history, read like anything, anything, but just read more, because if you read more, then your perspective is growing. Then your perspective in seeing your societies, in your families, in your nation, everything will be changed if you are reader. Fourth is the be an aggressive be a be a madness dreamer because there are there are a lot of people who have who does not who have not their dreams and still alive in your small burning desire, because if there is big dream, our emotion, our perspective, our lifestyle, how everything is will be changed. Then I think you, you should have big dream, then you make your life easier. Make your life better. Make your life what you think. Actually, thank you.

Tanuja Pandey 1:04:06

Can I add one more thing? Because I remember my fourth advice.

Aadarsha Bikram Singh 1:04:12

Four point

Tanuja Pandey 1:04:14

this, this I'm saying from my heart, because whatever we went on September 5, and September 8, and September 9, it, it is engraved as a generational trauma to majority of our memory, and I would not like any country to go through the same phase what Nepal went, because you know, it might sound, it might sound really heroic to hear whatever happened, but we lost 76 of our people, we lost our institutions, and it should not repeat, and what I've learned is love and race can go together, but if race goes. Alone, it will not lead us to the good direction. So, make sure when your activism is in, is embedded in love and race, not just with race. Yeah,

Stella Micheong Cheong 1:05:12

that's phenomenal. And Narendra, would you like to add your,

Nar Bahadur Saud 1:05:18

yeah, advice? Yeah, particularly. GenZ's voice is more important than me, but I believe I normally see the movement of September 8 and September 9 from the two different lenses. I am fully supporting the September 8, and then I'm not, I can't accept the September 9 incident. What happened? But both incidents are interrelated. We must acknowledge it. So, as Tanuja said, so September 9 is okay to somehow, but September, sorry, September 8, September 8 can be, can be addressed easily by the government, but September 9 went out of control, so it costs a lot to people of Nepal, and then to the international communities, or those people who want to know more about these incidents, definitely considered when they think about the September 8, they should also consider about the September 9. So, as Tanuja said, the Nepalese people are resilient, Nepalese people are compassionate. Over the last 20 years, I have observed few other movement in Nepal, but I could not imagine that the Nepalese people could go up to the level of September 9, that is, at least I never imagined that Nepalese people could lead to that level of points, but they proved us wrong, and then anything could happen in Nepal as well, because we are surrounded by, we are influenced by the Indian politics, Indian culture, and Bengali politics like that, and then to raise its simple, would be simpler for them, but it was very different than in Nepal's context, but nowadays we should also think about some movement can lead very negatively in the country, so I would, I would say that it may bring the change, but at the same time we should also remember a systems are actually working or not, and how to sustain the system, so that these things never come again. Yeah,

Tanuja Pandey 1:07:53

yeah, adding also that I feel like raise in, like I said before, Nepal sees movement like this in every decade, and even most of the South Asian countries, basically, and we, we are in the same loop. We are basically in the same cycle of, we have the protest, then we forget it, and then again, we remember, then we have a protest, never-ending loop. I think more than the young people, it's high time for a country like Nepal that they must strengthen their institutional memory, a memory that could observe the event like this, because you're, if you have, if your citizen have a raise, the institution memory of the state must observe that race. If they have love, they must observe that love. If they don't, if the state political ecosystem cannot observe the disruption, cannot observe the concern of people, then there will be no point of having anything, and country cannot move forward, so basically, so basically, it's high time that young people must cooperate, young people must emphasize, and must lobby the strengthening the institutional memory of their own country, so that other generational generation could not, should not go through the same kind of cycle that we went through.

Stella Micheong Cheong 1:09:27

Oh, yes, yeah, I do agree. Yeah. So Aadarsha, Tanuja and Narendra, thank you once again. Such a wonderful, meaningful insight, inside inspiring conversation. I believe this episode, featuring the powerful voices of young people behind Nepal's historic 2025 Gen Z movement, will offer listeners around the world meaningful. Your insight into the spirit of democracy and rule of law. The vital role of Z generation. I genuinely believe that young people like you will play key role, as Tanuja pointed out, and Adasha also emphasize in strengthening democracy, and in Nepal. I'm closing this episode. I'm Stella Cheong. Thank you for listening to Conversations4Citizenship. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe, Conversations for citizenship on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Amazon Museum, and Audible, and look for us on X @c4c_ed and bluesky @c4cpodcast.bsky.social. A transcript of today's conversation with three Nepali youths can be found www.conversations4citizenship.com. This episode of conversations4citizenship was produced by Adam Lang, Kamille Beye, and Stella Cheong recorded and sound mixed by Stella Cheong. Thank you so much. Take good care. Bye, Bye, Thank you.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Conversations4Citizenship, we sit down with three Nepali voices — Aadarsha, Tanuja, and Dr. Narendra — to unpack the September 2025 Gen Z movement that shook Nepal. They walk us through what really sparked the uprising: a sudden social media ban, decades of corruption, the viral #NepoBaby trend, and a generation tired of watching their parents migrate just to survive. We hear about the 76 lives lost, the swift 2026 election, Nepal's youngest-ever Prime Minister at 36, and the fragile hope that follows any revolution. It's a candid look at what real change costs and what comes next.

EPISODE NOTES

This episode brings together three Nepali changemakers, public speaker Aadarsha Bikram Singh, lawyer Tanuja Pandey, and peacebuilding researcher, Dr. Nar Bahadur Saud, to unpack the historic September 2025 Gen Z movement that toppled Nepal's government. They explain how decades of corruption, forced out-migration, and a sudden social media ban pushed young people into the streets, fueled by the viral #NepoBaby and #NepoKids hashtags borrowed from Indonesia's earlier uprising. The conversation honors the 76 lives lost on September 9, traces the remarkably swift transition to a peaceful 2026 election, and introduces a parliament now full of young faces including a 36-year-old Prime Minister. But the guests are refreshingly honest about the uncertainty ahead: creeping populism, weak institutional memory, and the temptation to dismantle without rebuilding. Their closing advice for global youth movements is unforgettable — unite before you ignite, collaborate across generations, read history, and let love walk beside the rage.

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