Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is facing growing political pressure after three key cabinet ministers resigned within 24 hours. Youth-led protests shook Kathmandu on Monday, prompting Agriculture Minister Ramnath Adhikari to step down on Tuesday, citing the government’s “authoritarian” response to the demonstrations. Apart from the Agricultural Minister, Health Minister Pradip Paudel also resigned. Earlier, Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak resigned on Monday evening, following clashes between protesters and police that left 19 people dead.
In his resignation letter, Agriculture Minister Ramnath Adhikari condemned the government’s response to what began as “peaceful protests”. He wrote, “Instead of recognising citizens' natural right to question and protest in a democracy, the state responded with widespread suppression, killings, and use of force, moving the country towards authoritarianism.”
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Protesters have set fire to the house of former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak in Naikap, just a day after his resignation. He has become the latest target in the rising attacks on political leaders. Demonstrators are also vandalising and burning the homes of other senior leaders, as protests continue to spread nationwide despite curfews and heavy security deployment.
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Why Has The Ban Sparked Protests?
According to a report in the The Kathmandu Post, there are around 13.5 million Facebook users and Instagram 3.6 million users in Nepal. Many of the users are dependent on social media for their business, who now claim to have been affected by the ban. Moreover, the protestors have also alleged corruption in the government, misappropriation of powers and accused them of violating Human Rights, suppressing freedom of speech and expression.
The ban is also likely to disrupt communication for millions of Nepalese living in foreign countries, who connected to their families via social media apps.
“This is the protest by the new generation in Nepal. A new slavery system has been introduced in the nation. Nepali youth’s age is being sold, and high post officials are involved in misappropriation of powers. Human rights are being violated by the major three political parties: CPN-UML, the radical nationalist party; Nepali Congress, which has been supporting from the background; and Maoist Center, which has also remained silent over the issue. They also had banned TikTok at the time,” a protestor told ANI.
“Stop the ban on social media, stop corruption not social media,” the crowds chanted.
“We were triggered by the social media ban but that is not the only reason we are gathered here,” student Yujan Rajbhandari, told AFP.