Who is Balendra Shah? After KP Sharma Oli resigns as PM amid unrest in Nepal, Kathmandu Mayor seen as frontrunner

Nepal Gen Z Protests: Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has resigned from his post amid a landmark protest led by the country's youth against the government's alleged corruption and police brutality following the country's ban on 26 social media apps.

With KP Sharma Oli's resignation and President Ramchanra Paudel's reported search for a replacement, the focus has now shifted to Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah, who is being considered one of the frontrunners of the Prime Minister's post.

Amid the deadly protests that killed at least 19 people and injured around 500 others, Balendra Shah expressed solidarity with the Gen Z protesters. In a Facebook post, the Kathmandu mayor said he could not attend due to the 28-year-old age cap set by organisers. However, he said it was necessary to hear the protesters' voices.

“The rally is clearly a spontaneous movement of Gen-Z, for whom even I may seem old,” Shah wrote in a post on Facebook.

“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.

Balendra Shah, popularly known as Balen Shah, extended his “full support” to the protesters.

Who is Balendra Shah?

Balendra Shah, who is popularly known among people as Balen, is the mayor of Kathmandu. Unlike most leaders, his path to becoming the mayor of Nepal's capital has not been conventional.

Born in 1990, Balen Shah comes from a Maithil origin Madhesi family. He received a bachelor's degree (BE) in civil engineering from Himalayan Whitehouse International College. Thereafter, he went to the Visvesvaraya Technological University in Karnataka to earn his MTech degree in structural engineering.

Balendra Shah or Balen Shah was interested in music since childhood. He turned this into a career by releasing his first single, Sadak Balak, in 2012 — a song he wrote in the ninth grade.

Before joining politics, Balen Shah was a popular name Nepal's underground hip-hop scene as a rapper and lyricist and was known for his songs raising issues about corruption and inequality in Nepal.

He created history in 2022 by contesting the mayoral elections in Kathmandu as an independent candidate and winning by a massive margin of over 61,000 votes, defeating seasoned politicians from established parties.

Now, Nepal's youth is turning to their ‘Balen dai’ to become the Prime Minister, after KP Sharma Oli resigned from the post.