Nepal’s PM marks 100 days with sweeping changes

KATHMANDU: One hundred days after taking power promising sweeping reform, Nepal’s 36-year-old rapper-turned-prime minister Balendra Shah has upended the government while remaining an elusive public figure.

The former mayor of Kathmandu, better known as “Balen”, reached the milestone on Sunday and has moved quickly since taking office.

Just a day after he was sworn in, police arrested former prime minister KP Sharma Oli and his ex-interior minister on the recommendation of an inquiry commission into the deadly September 2025 uprising that toppled Oli.

The two have since been released without charge while investigations continue.

Observers say that the first move set the tone for the government’s subsequent actions – fast and symbolically loaded but also often legally contested and executed with little patience for institutional processes.

Shah has kept an unusually low profile, preferring to communicate through social media and even delivering his victory speech as a rap song.

He has also avoided meetings with foreign envoys and relegated visits to neighbouring India and China, the traditional first stops of a Nepali prime minister, to his foreign minister.

“In three months, we know very little about the man we have elected as the prime minister,” said journalist Pranaya Rana. “He needs to open up,” Rana added.

‘On an expressway’

Few predicted the scale of Shah’s landslide victory in the March 5 general election, the first vote since the youth-driven anti-corruption protests toppled Oli’s government.

His rise was powered by the same public anger that drove young protesters onto the streets, fuelled by a lack of economic opportunities and corruption among the entrenched political elite.

The government launched a 100-point reform agenda covering governance, anti-corruption measures, service delivery and digitalisation.

About 70 measures have been implemented, with the rest underway, according to the government.

Shah said in a rare public address to a meeting of the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party in June that his administration was “on an expressway” towards change.

“The brakes will only be applied when we reach our destination,” Shah said.

The government has presented a ৳2.1 trillion (US$13.8 billion) spending plan focused on boosting infrastructure, technology, health and education, while pledging to stabilise the economy.

“The nation is standing at a decisive crossroad of comprehensive economic reform,” finance minister Swarnim Wagle said as he presented the budget.

‘Stay vigilant’

Shah’s breakneck style has won admirers.

“First of all, it has changed the style of working – it started working from day one unlike previous governments,” said journalist Sudheer Sharma. “It seems to be action-oriented”.

However, it also has fierce critics.

Oli’s communist party, the CPN-UML, said in a statement on Friday that the government’s work has been “very weak, immature and controversial”.

Shah’s government has pushed reform through ordinances to speed up change despite having the parliamentary majority needed to pass legislation.

Some worry the approach is undermining checks and balances.

“Work has been done, but the understanding of how it is to be done seems to be different,” said Anusha Khanal, a political researcher who also took part in the protests. “We have to stay vigilant.”

One ordinance allows the constitutional council – chaired by Shah – to make decisions, including judicial appointments, by a simple majority.

Discussions around constitutional amendments and restructuring Nepal’s federal system have triggered political backlash.

Yujan Rajbhandari, 23, who took part in the 2025 protests, told AFP that the government was born “from the womb of the movement” and must listen to its voice.

“We have a lot of hope with this government,” he said. “It is good that they are result-oriented, but if that result is not through a due process then it may not be sustainable,” he added.

A bid to remove squatter settlements has also been highly criticised.

“The first 100 days is the time they have the most goodwill from everyone,” Rana said. “Now, the criticism may mount, even from the public,” Rana added.