Kathmandu: Nepal has been thrust into political chaos after a youth-led movement forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign, with the army stepping in to control law and order amid widespread unrest across the country.
While initial reports linked Oli’s downfall to a controversial social media ban, the real trigger lay in a hit-and-run accident in Lalitpur involving an 11-year-old girl. The outrage that followed, reportedly became the breaking point for a generation already disillusioned with the government.
Here's What Happened
According to a report by News18, the unrest can be traced to an event in Harisiddhi's Lalitpur, in August, when a provincial minister’s government vehicle struck an 11-year-old girl at a pedestrian crossing. Witnesses reported that the car attempted to flee, leaving the child seriously injured. Locals managed to stop the vehicle, and the driver was briefly detained.
However, public anger intensified when the driver was released within 24 hours. The tipping point came when former PM Oli dismissed the incident as a "minor issue". Photos of the injured girl soon flooded the internet, and hashtags such as "#JusticeForTheGirl" gained traction across all platforms, giving Nepal’s youth a cause around which to rally.
The incident exposed deeper frustrations among the Gen-Z population, already grappling with unemployment, systemic corruption and lack of accountability. What had begun as a local grievance rapidly snowballed into a nationwide youth mobilisation.
Social Media Ban Backfired
Instead of addressing public anger, the government imposed a sudden ban on 26 social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp on September 4. The move, intended to suppress dissent, backfired immediately.
“Banning social media proved very costly for the Oli government,” a political analyst observed. “He had no idea that one decision would lead to the fall of his administration.”
By September 8 and 9, Gen-Z-led protesters, many reportedly organising through encrypted channels and offline networks, stormed government buildings, including Parliament, the President’s House and the Prime Minister’s Office. The demonstrations turned aggressive, and government offices were vandalised.
With the administration unable to contain the scale of the protests, PM Oli and several senior ministers fled. Their current locations remain unknown.
The Nepal Army has since taken control of law and order, and discussions are underway to form an interim government. Political analysts say the crisis reflects long-simmering generational discontent that finally erupted, not because of a single incident, but due to years of perceived neglect by those in power.
