‘It’s a lot of trouble, now I need work, I want to change the seal of Nepal, I need Balen. Puranalai farewell, new occasion, everyone has the same slogan – ‘This time, Balen Sarkar’.
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Till a month ago this was a song. Now this is the reality of Nepal. Balen government is certain to come in Nepal. In the elections held on 165 seats, Balen Shah’s Rashtriya Swatantra Party was leading on 115 seats till 10 pm on March 6. 138 seats are needed to form government in Nepal. Balen Shah was a rapper before entering politics. For the first time in Nepal elections, pop culture was used on a large scale for a leader.
Understand this from the meaning of the above song in Hindi- ‘Enough of talking, now work is needed, Balen is needed to change the face of Nepal.’ ‘Farewell to the old and opportunity to the new, everyone has the same slogan – This time, Balen Sarkar.’
Balen Shah is leading from Chapa-5 seat. His party is winning, but this could be bad news for India. In his short political career, Balen Shah has been openly making statements against India. Nepal has called the government and the court slaves of India. Balen had written abuses against India, China and America on social media in November 2025.
Will Nepal-India relations deteriorate if Balen Shah comes to power, what kind of relations do the people of Nepal want with India? On this, we talked to common people, Gen Z leaders, Balen’s party leaders and experts in Kathmandu.
Balen’s opposition to India started as soon as he entered politics Voting took place in Nepal on 5 March. Only the trends of the elections have come, the complete results will come by March 20. In the initial trends, Balen Shah’s party is winning unilaterally. Balen Shah became the Mayor of Kathmandu in May 2022. Since then he has been in the news for his anti-India stance. He has created his image as a nationalist leader. In 2022, when he was mayor, he was angry with the film ‘Adipurush’ and banned Indian films in Kathmandu.
His allegation was that in Adipurush, Sita has been described as the daughter of India, which is an insult to Nepal. However, the ban was lifted after the court’s decision. Balen Shah’s anger did not subside. On social media, he described the Nepal government and the court as slaves of India.
Opponents of China along with India In response to the map of united India being shown in the Indian Parliament in 2023, Balen Shah put a map of Greater Nepal in his office. In this, many places in India were shown as part of Nepal.
While being the mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shah had put a map of Greater Nepal in his office. In this, the area from Western Kangra in Himachal to Eastern Teesta in West Bengal has been described as part of Greater Nepal.
The biggest controversy happened after his post on Facebook in November 2025. Balen Shah posted using abusive language for India, China and some other countries. Later it was also deleted. However, by then this post had gone viral.
People said – Friendship with India should not be broken for the sake of politics. Balen Shah’s stance may have been anti-India, but the people of Nepal want good relations with India. Sameer, 23, studying at Kathmandu University, believes that India, Nepal and China should live together. Sameer calls Balen Shah’s anti-India and China statements as politics.
He says, ‘There is no sentiment against India among the people of Nepal. We love India. We have a bread-and-daughter relationship. Many times leaders say different things for their own benefit and votes.
‘India should also show confidence in Balen Shah’ 55 year old Krishna Vishwakarma hopes for friendly behavior with India from the new government. They say there should be brotherhood among us. China is a neighboring country, so we should also take it along. Krishna believes that the religious, cultural and linguistic relations between India and Nepal are very deep. He says that right now people are showing hope and confidence in the leadership of Balen Shah.
40 year old Milan believes that Nepal should leave India and China and think about itself. On Balen Shah’s anti-India statements, Milan says, ‘It is not right to speak against the relations between India and Nepal. Some leaders or people talk in their own way, but common people do not think like this. Instead of spoiling our mutual relations, we should try to maintain them better.
Gen Z leader said – Balen should avoid divisive politics There was a Gen Z protest in Nepal in September. After this Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli had to resign. Even at that time there were reports of Balen Shah becoming the Prime Minister. He is also popular among the youth. We also spoke to the leaders leading the Gen Z protests. 25 year old Tanuja Pandey is one of the big faces of the protest. She considers Balen Shah’s politics as populist and divisive.
Tanuja says that Balen is a youth leader and people have expectations from him, but he did not work while being the mayor of Kathmandu. It is worrying to hear his ‘us versus them’ politics and provocative statements. We wanted to get rid of this kind of politics during the protest.
Tanuja further says that Nepal is an important country because of its location. The interest of neighboring countries like India and China in this is natural. It depends on our leadership how to convert it into opportunity.
Gen Z Protest leader Tanka Dhami is also angry with Balen Shah. They say-
We have doubts about Balen Shah’s agenda and development roadmap. We should see clearly how they want to take the country forward.
Tanka says, ‘We want India to help Nepal in its progress. Some people try to do anti-India propaganda, but we do not have bad feelings for India. We want strong relations between the two countries.
Expert said – apart from politics, good relations with India are a compulsion Balen Shah had joined the Rashtriya Swatantra Party only in December 2025. This party was created by Nepal’s famous host Ravi Lamichhane. Ravi is leading from Chitwan-2 seat. Both Balen and Ravi are considered firebrands and anti-India leaders. To understand the politics of both, we talked to journalists from Nepal.
Sachchidanand Mishra, managing director of Nepal’s Hindi weekly magazine Himalini, believes, ‘The incoming government will have to maintain good relations with India. He says, ‘Both Balen Shah and Ravi are known for their anti-India stance, but both remained completely silent in this election. They know that the votes of Terai are influenced by relations with India.
‘China also does not seem to be openly interfering this time. He is watching everything silently. He is more concerned about the Dalai Lama supporters. No party will openly come out in support of the Dalai Lama, but every party has some supporters.
Senior journalist Krishna Dungana also believes that the new government will have to maintain relations with both India and China. This has been the foreign policy of Nepal. He says, ‘It is expected that all countries including India will accept the election results.’
Senior journalist Yubaraj Ghimire says that since 2006, India’s image has weakened in Nepal. People still remember the undeclared blockade of 2015. On the other hand, China has increased its presence with investments. People in Nepal are wary of outside interference. Yuvraj considers it a challenge to fulfill the promises of Gen Z movement in case Balen’s government is formed.
Balen’s party said- will maintain good relations with India We spoke to senior leader of Rashtriya Swatantra Party, Kumar Anand Mishra. He expresses hope that the party will get majority. They also claim that if they do not fulfill their manifesto promises, they will not come to ask for votes next time. On relations between India and Nepal, Kumar Anand says that our policy will be balanced and practical. You can’t change your neighbors. Nepal is lucky to have big economies on both its sides.
On Balen Shah’s anti-India statements, Kumar Anand says that he is a national leader. His focus in the election campaign is on development and good governance. The policies of the party are based on collective decisions. There is no intention to spoil relations with any country. We believe that Nepal will maintain good relations with both its neighbours.
Also read this ground report from Nepal… 1. Night life of Thamel, infamous for sex work, comes to a standstill
Thamel area of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu is the first choice of foreign tourists. The most famous bars and pubs are here. Elections are held in Nepal on 5 March. Its effect is clearly visible in Thamel also. Here prostitution business runs in the name of spa centre. Due to strictness in elections and police patrolling, everything is closed for the last 10-12 days. Due to the strictness of the police, even the agents do not want to take risk. Read the full news…
2. Where are the Gen Z leaders who brought down the government missing in the elections?
Tanka Dhami, one of the big faces of the Gen Z protests in Nepal, is excited about the upcoming elections. They believe that the Protest has changed the priorities of political parties in the elections. However, another Gen Z leader Tanuja Pandey has a different opinion. She says, ‘Political parties used our movement when needed and then ignored it.’ Read the full news…