Politics

The narrative of Nepal’s 2026 election has centred on three political personalities – Balendra Shah, Gagan Thapa and K P Sharma Oli (left to right) – but that framing oversimplifies the stakes. The bigger question is institutional: can Nepal reconcile urgency with restraint?
After the Gen Z protests, Nepalis will choose between distinct political personalities – Balen Shah, Gagan Thapa and K P Sharma Oli – and different directions for the country’s democracy
 Himal Interviews: How Gen Z shook up Nepal’s entrenched political class
The poet Ujjwalla Maharjan, law student Anjali Sah and climate activist Tashi Lhazom talk about how a new Nepal must pay attention to marginalised groups
In 1976, nearing death, Phanishwar Nath Renu wrote to B P Koirala, “My sickness does not allow me to help you with the democratic revolution in Nepal for now.” But the great Hindi writer had done his part, with the pen and with the gun, in the Nepali Congress's 1950 insurrection against autocratic Rana rule. (From left: Mohan Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Matrika Prasad Koirala, Phanishwar Nath Renu, King Tribhuvan, B P Koirala, Subarna Shamsher Rana, King Mahendra)
Ratik Asokan’s translation of ‘Nepali Kranti Katha’, a rare eyewitness account of Nepal’s 1950-1951 revolution by a giant of Hindi literature
Glossary of Terms: Nepali Kranti Katha
By
The Editors
This glossary of terms accompanies Ratik Asokan’s translation of select portions of Phanishwar Nath Renu’s Nepali Kranti Katha, published in Himal Southasian as Phanishwar Nath Renu’s story of Nepal’s ...
Himal Interviews: The decay of socialism and secularism in India
By
The Editors
The historian Irfan Habib talks to Harsh Mander about how the Hindu right is manufacturing the subcontinent’s history, with the support of the BJP leadership
Tarique Rahman has led the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to a landslide victory and now has the tough task of building a credible government, preventing a slide towards authoritarianism or further Islamisation in the country, and recalibrating ties with India.
By
Shakeel Anwar
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has swept to victory with a two-third majority but the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami has had its strongest showing ever
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Himal Southasian
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