The protest over banning of social media platforms has boiled over, and swept away incumbent politicians from the government as well as the opposition. While 19 casualties were reported yesterday, today the establishment seemed to have withdrawn from their path.
It is still not clear as who led the protests or even who supported them. The government and the opposition both were targeted, and it does not look like any political faction is in the midst of all the violence.
The young, defied curfew and poured into the streets, their targeting of anything and everything related to the establishment, including the parliament and Supreme Court speaks of their anger and disillusionment.
The fledgling democracy was struggling with laying institutions, and has been unable to overcome after being hit hard by the 2015 earthquake, Indian blockade and then the economic collapse following Covid pandemic.
Growth has slowed and youth unemployment is at over 20%. Even the shift towards China, hasn’t yielded much. The Maoist revolution, abolishing the monarchy and sectarian fault lines between the hills and the plains made democracy difficult and unstable.
Corruption and nepotism thrived, increasing inequality. The young were hit hardest, revolution and democracy both proved futile. Hope sustains both, and the disillusionment of the young dismantled them.
Social media history suggests that they blamed nepotism for much of their woes and saw the establishment as self serving. This explains the attack on all businesses rumored to have stakes of politicians and their families. Even their private houses were attacked.
Resignations and attempts at all party government did not assuage the streets. There are no identifiable leaders , to call for talks, and no overriding demands to accept. The entire establishment has been repudiated.
Over the last 2 years this is the 3rd South Asian country to have imploded due to youth protests. First Srilanka, then Bangladesh and now Nepal, while the previous were mainly against the government, Nepal is against the entire system.
If we add to it, the post Imran khan volatility in Pakistan, India is the only remaining country with a stable polity. But it is racing down the same path. We are most unequal in over a century. Our institutions are losing legitimacy and the avenues for dissent are being lost.
Election manipulation charges may prove to be the last straw on the camel’s back. While our size makes revolution difficult, but a thousand mutinies are brewing.
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