Just read Professor Bishnu Sapkota’s powerful piece in Kantipur debunking three Nepali myths that desperately need challenging. His analysis resonates deeply with arguments I’ve been making about Nepal’s political landscape.
Speaking of myths: watching my Facebook friends celebrate the Rabi Lamichhane-Balen Shah unity as if it’s Nepal’s salvation feels like déjà vu. Remember the Gen Z movement excitement? Within months, we saw it was largely destruction of national heritage and property—not the transformation everyone promised.
This Lamichhane-Balen alliance is just another fleeting “blinker of hope” Nepalis have witnessed repeatedly in recent history. We get excited, we believe, we’re disappointed—rinse and repeat.
But here’s what nobody’s asking: What exactly IS this unity? Is it a formal political party merger? An electoral alliance? A friendship photo-op? More critically—has anyone heard their vision for actually running the country? What policies will they implement? How will they address corruption differently than their predecessors? What’s their economic plan? Their foreign policy? Their strategy for federal restructuring?
We have two popular personalities joining forces, but popularity is not policy. Social media following is not governance capacity. Photo opportunities are not reform agendas.
Will this alliance dismantle the myths Professor Sapkota identifies? Will they do anything substantial that future generations will remember as their contribution to breaking Nepal’s political deadlock? Or is this just another example of what I describe in my recent article—political entrepreneurship where personalities replace principles, and brand management substitutes for serious governance?
As I argue in my piece, these new formations represent populist moments, not sustainable movements. Without ideological foundations, institutional capacity, or history of genuine sacrifice, they’re political entrepreneurs treating democracy as business opportunity. The Lamichhane-Balen union seems to follow this exact pattern: high on publicity, silent on policy.
Professor Sapkota dismantles the myths keeping Nepal stuck. We need this intellectual honesty—and we need to demand more than charisma and popularity from our political leaders. We need answers: How will you govern? What will you change? Why should we believe you’ll succeed where others failed?
Until these questions are answered with substance rather than slogans, this is just another momentary distraction from the hard work of genuine political reform.
