MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Nepal has a new prime minister after massive anti-corruption protests triggered and shaped by social media toppled the government last week. Seventy-three-year-old Sushila Karki is the first woman to serve as prime minister. She promised to work for the Gen Z youth who led the protest. NPR's Omkar Khandekar reports.
OMKAR KHANDEKAR, BYLINE: When Sushila Karki took an oath as Nepal's interim chief on Friday, supporters defied curfew to celebrate on the streets.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in non-English language).
KHANDEKAR: Karki is a former chief justice known for challenging the corrupt and the elite. Before she was selected as prime minister, she got the most votes in a poll on the group chat app Discord, organized by a youth advocacy group. That was days after mobs burned down government buildings and assaulted political leaders at their homes.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Shouting in non-English language).
KHANDEKAR: The protests were triggered by Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli blocking social media sites like YouTube and Instagram, where videos of political Nepo kids flaunting their wealth were going viral. As violence spread across the country, Oli resigned, and the parliament was dissolved. Nepal is now limping back to normalcy. The youth are back out, but this time, they are helping monitor traffic and cleaning up.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHOVEL SCRAPING)
KHANDEKAR: At a local hospital, Ishwor Regmi distributes noodles and juice boxes to the injured. He says Gen Z youth like him were tired of state corruption and lack of jobs. He blames it on the mainstream parties who have formed more than a dozen governments in the last two decades.
ISHWOR REGMI: We had been there to root out them from the root level. Our main motto was that.
KHANDEKAR: Nepal is scheduled to hold elections early next year. Ashish Pradhan from the think tank International Crisis Group says there are challenges ahead for the interim government, but the protests have sent a message.
ASHISH PRADHAN: When Nepal's leaders lose touch with the population, you know, you see the streets as the place where people can take their grievances.
KHANDEKAR: Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, Kathmandu. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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