September 8 and 9 marked two of the darkest days in Nepal’s modern political history, which saw a Gen Z-led movement against corruption quickly turn into an unprecedented catastrophe.
The government’s crackdown that left 19 protesters dead on the first day led to escalated protests on the second. Rampaging mobs vandalised businesses, attacked leaders, torched their houses and set ablaze some of the most important public offices, including Parliament and the Supreme Court. Thousands escaped prisons from across the country.
By the end of the second day of protests, Nepal was not just under a massive political vacuum, but also under a state of lawlessness, causing widespread uncertainty about the country’s future. Marking an end to yet another revolution in Nepal, being referred to as ‘Jana Andolan-III’ by many, on September 12, former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was appointed as the interim head of the government and the President called for elections on March 5, 2026.
Although this is not the first instance of Nepali youth influencing the country’s political trajectory through protests, the 2025 movement featured some stark differences: spontaneity, lack of leaders and digital-age energy. To make sense of how Nepal arrived at this crucial juncture, one needs to look into its cyclical history of popular movements and where the 2025 revolution fits.
Nepal has gone through a series of unfinished revolutions, which included the participation of youth, all seeking to transform the country from the authoritarian Rana regime to a federal democratic republic. In 1951, a revolution deposed the 104-year-old Rana oligarchy, restoring King Tribhuvan to power in an arrangement mediated by India.
Built on the aspirations of Nepali Congress members, who were active in India’s anti-colonial movement, and student uprisings like the Jayatu Sanskritam movement of 1947, it was hailed as the “dawn of democracy” in Nepal. However, political instability in subsequent years allowed King Mahendra to consolidate power in his hands.
After three decades of absolute monarchy, in 1990, Nepal’s political parties led the first people’s movement, the Jana Andolan-I, with an active mobilisation of youth activists. The movement restored multiparty democracy and established constitutional monarchy in Nepal. However, the 1990 Constitution was perceived as a “document of compromise” that had failed to address the grievances of the marginalised — an inadequacy that the Maoists exploited to launch a decade-long insurgency in 1996.
From 1996 to 2006, Nepali youth performed a dual role — while radicalised rural youth served as Maoist guerrillas, students and youth fronts carried out urban protests. Maoist insurgency culminated in the second people’s movement, Jana Andolan-II, in 2006, after political parties joined hands to launch a revolution against monarchy.
Triggered by King Gyanendra’s imposition of direct rule, the 19-day protests led to the monarchy being overthrown in 2008 and the declaration of Nepal as a “democratic, secular and inclusive republican nation”. However, a perceived sense of exclusion in the post-revolution political settlements saw Madhes-based parties and leaders launch their own struggles for greater autonomy and representation. When the Second Constituent Assembly promulgated a new Constitution in September 2015, the ongoing demonstrations in Madhes intensified.
The 2025 revolution, which began on social media platforms and, ironically enough, spilled over into the streets after their ban, must be seen as a continuation of an unfinished agenda. Like earlier movements, it appears to have sprung from the disillusionment that the country’s democratic transitions have not delivered fundamental socio-economic changes.
In particular, the aspirations of the population that grew up in the post-2006 transition were shaped by digital media and globalisation, even as the democratic promises of better economic opportunities and improved lifestyle remained unfulfilled across regional and ethnic lines. Instead, rampant corruption, misgovernance and decades of political stagnation bred a sense of exclusion and injustice, which had made a revolution an inevitability.
Nepal’s 2025 Gen-Z revolution that sought to end corruption and increase the youths’ representation in Nepali politics, thus, fits the wider pattern of democratic struggles in the nation, albeit with some stark differences. Unlike the past movements, the 2025 revolution featured a generational consciousness, rather than a structured leadership guiding the protests. This caused initial confusion and misguided anger, which likely allowed groups with ulterior motives to exploit the situation.
The 2025 movement also saw extensive use of digital platforms — through the “nepobaby” campaign, widespread live streaming of protests, and live discussions and digital voting to pick Karki to lead the interim government.
Late on September 12, when Karki was sworn in as the head of the interim government, people not only celebrated Nepal’s first woman Prime Minister, but also breathed a sigh of relief at having averted a major political crisis. Within hours however, the Nepal Bar Association issued a statement declaring the parliamentary dissolution as unconstitutional. Some even questioned the exclusionary process and suspicious roles of Gen-Z leaders, the Nepal Army and controversial figures in Karki’s appointment as the interim leader.
Given these challenges, the road ahead looks neither easy nor straightforward, but if Karki can lead the country out of this crisis, her contribution to Nepal’s democratic journey will be historic.
The writer is a PhD candidate at Dublin City University and former research fellow at CESIF, Nepal
The latest clashes follow the deadly uprising in September, which killed at least 76 people during demonstrations triggered by a brief social media ban.(AP File Photo) 
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