A year on after Nepal’s Gen Z protests, have new leaders forgotten their reform pledges?

True institutional reform can only take root when current leadership stops bypassing due process, transparently investigates corruption, and implements verifiable accountability measures across every branch of government.

Today marks a year since the leaderless Gen Z protests shook the political landscape of Nepal. The immediate trigger for the uprising was the KP Oli government’s decision to block 26 social media platforms, suppressing digital freedom. Yet this restriction acted as a spark for wider anger against deep-seated corruption, systemic nepotism, and political impunity within the elite. The movement quickly demanded institutional integrity, transparency, the rule of law, and a change in leadership. Rather than a uniform movement with one programme, the uprising comprised diverse, concentric demands. It ranged from digital freedom to sweeping generational transformations and justice. This disruption came at a devastating human cost, with 76 deaths and over 2,600 injured. Each of those individuals fought for a fairer state, free from the old patterns of patronage.