From rapper to mayor: Gen Z protesters now want Balendra Shah as Nepal's interim PM
In a Facebook post, the Kathmandu mayor said that while he could not attend the protests due to the age cap set by organisers, he believed it was necessary to hear their voices.
Nepal's week-long youth-led protests have already toppled Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, and attention is swiftly turning to Kathmandu Mayor Balendra Shah, better known as "Balen", as the face of a possible new leadership.
Demonstrations, driven largely by Gen Z, erupted after the government banned 26 major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X, reports NDTV.
The unrest escalated on Monday (8 September) when police crackdowns killed at least 19 protesters and injured hundreds more nationwide, with 18 deaths reported in Kathmandu alone. Many of the victims were students in school and college uniforms.
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Amid the upheaval, rapper-turned-politician Shah voiced solidarity with demonstrators, though he refrained from joining physically due to the age cap set by organisers, which limited participants to those under 28.
"The rally is clearly a spontaneous movement of Gen-Z, for whom even I may seem old," Mr Shah wrote in a Facebook post. "I want to understand their aspirations, objectives and thinking. Political parties, leaders, activists, lawmakers and campaigners should not be oversmart to use this rally for their own interests."
He added that while he would not attend in person, his "full support" remained with the youth.
Late Monday, after the government reversed the social media ban, online platforms lit up with calls for Shah to take charge. Hashtags and comments praising him as a "potential prime minister" began trending, with supporters urging him to step forward.
One supporter wrote, "The difference between Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal is that we have a potential prime minister among us who will work only for the good of the country without personal interest. Balen for PM lessgoo."
Another comment read, "Dear Balen, Take LEAD now or Never. Nepal is behind you. Go ahead."
Who Is Balendra Shah?
Balendra Shah, 34, is the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. Born in 1990, he studied civil engineering in Nepal before completing a master's in structural engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University in India.
Before entering politics, Shah was a well-known figure in Nepal's underground hip-hop scene, using his lyrics to highlight corruption, inequality, and social issues. In 2022, he contested Kathmandu's mayoral election as an independent and won with over 61,000 votes, defeating candidates from established parties.
Shah, who is married to Sabina Kafle, remains highly active on social media and frequently engages directly with citizens about civic and political matters.
With protests showing no signs of abating, growing voices within Nepal's Gen Z are rallying behind Shah, calling on him to rise from engineer, rapper, and mayor to the country's interim prime minister.
