What is common between the unrest seen in the recent past in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka? It is the pent up public anger against the entire political class. In all the three countries in India’s neighbourhood, people had given a fair chance to almost all political formations available as options.
When they realised that none of the alliances are rising to the popular expectations of corruption-free, efficient state-craft, their anger erupted like a volcano.
Another important similarity is that young people, mostly belonging to Gen Z, taking to the streets and rejecting all established political parties lock, stock and barrel. This was an indication of anxiety, as the message of ‘We have lost our patience!’ coming from the young generations of these countries was too clear to be missed.
It’s true that hastily drawn, simplistic conclusions may lead us to more confusion, as the role of deep state and similar factors that are beneath the surface need further probe. Still, at least four important factors are emerging as lessons for all democracies in general, and developing countries in particular.
These lessons are about failure of the political class to deal with the intricacies of democratic governance, repeatedly experiencing lack of patience from Gen Z, coupled with absence of intergenerational dialogues, the impact of illusions created by social media, and perhaps the supremely important factor of abject bankruptcy of political parties as democratic institutions.
It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that all these factors are at the backdrop of the turmoil in Nepal and were also present in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to a fair extent.
First, the intricacies of democratic governance. Unfortunately, many make the mistake of taking a skewed approach towards democracy and try to equate it with elections.
They ignore what several researchers and academics like Pippa Norris of Harvard Kennedy School have repeatedly said about the need for liberal democratic values going hand in hand with efficient state-craft for democracies to sustain. And for efficient state-craft, the prerequisite is efficient elected representatives. But sadly, in most representative democracies, electability of a candidate obviously dominates and the quality or ability to govern on his/her part is pushed to the periphery.
Add to this the mounting pressures of populism and incapacity of the political classes to deal with them adroitly. One more factor common to the uprisings in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is the fact that practically none had any inkling of what was in store till the sudden outburst of popular anger.
This also shows how the political classes—both ruling as well as in opposition—were miles away from the ground realities.
Losing patience is the second common factor—a restive Gen Z craving quick results, with its attention span getting ever shorter. There is a reason to believe that the absence of intergenerational dialogue within and outside families is a factor behind Gen Z’s restiveness.
According to a Pew Research Center survey from July 2025, about three-quarters of teens say that social media platforms make them feel more connected to their friends. And 63 per cent credit social media with giving them a place to show their creative side, in other words and help them build their social identity.
Notably, 34 per cent of girls versus 20 per cent of boys also say online platforms make them feel worse about their own lives, something that could be described as mainspring of their anger against the establishment.
In South Asia, Gen Z anger also could be attributed to the fact that many of them have not seen or experienced challenges like poverty and deprivation faced by the previous generations. As a consequence, there is a lack of ability on the part of many in Gen Z to empathise with the weaker sections.
In addition to this, social media—at least for a sizeable majority of youths—also creates an illusion of empowerment. When they realise that this empowerment is just a make-believe, frustration is bound to explode. Again, as highlighted by another Pew study from 2022, drawn into unrealistic social comparisons, ‘teens, especially girls, report feeling worse about their own lives due to social media, suggesting that the curated, often aspirational content can lead to negative self-perception and a warped sense of reality’.
It further pointed out that ‘the spread of misinformation and the exposure to negative content on social media have led to concerns about not being sure what to believe, contributing to a general distrust of the information presented’. What was seen on the streets of Kathmandu, Dhaka and Colombo was this mistrust, deep-rooted and widespread.
But finally, the most serious reason for this situation is the democratic moorings of the political parties.
In all these three countries, the majority of the political parties have no consistent ideological identity, no independent policy perspective, and no definitive and credible capacity to brave the challenges faced by their respective countries in a convincing manner.
Most parties in these countries have lost their ability to add any distinctive value to the table. At the end of the day, they just remain different labels adopted by desperate politicians, bereft of any genuinely different approach towards economic or social issues.
When parties fail in providing any alternative, the element of choice—so very central to the idea of democracy—evaporates, making the entire apparatus of democracy a theatre of the absurd. Faced with a dilemma between tolerating a worthless democracy and anarchy, at least Bangladeshi and Nepali youths seemed to have opted for the latter, at least temporarily.
The essential message of young South Asians to the entire democratic community is very clear: deliver or depart, perform or perish! People are not going to accept bad governance, nepotism and corruption simply because it is under a democratically elected government. If the young in many countries are in a mood to prefer anarchy against a democracy that can’t deliver, it is time to sit up and take note.
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe | Senior BJP leader
(Views are personal)
(vinays57@gmail.com)