Balen Shah, the current Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC), has been tagged with all sorts of labels and references, such as “foreign puppet,” “political savior,” “Lucifer rising,” “anarchist,” “mastermind of violence,” “a populist,” “future directly elected prime minister,” and “an agent of disruption.”

Amid so much speculation, expectation, thoughtless praise, idealization, and controversy, Balen Shah’s political persona and public image remain popularly charismatic yet enigmatic and mysterious. Even though his ardent supporters have projected him as a key player in Nepal’s political transformation, it is still unclear whether he will be able—or even intends—to transition from a populist mayor of a metropolitan city to a transformative national leader.

For his supporters, Balen Shah appears as a rapper-engineer-politician capable of imagining what remains unthinkable in Nepali politics. He symbolizes something radically new: a leader untainted by a corrupt political legacy, a charismatic savior who can redeem people from the existing corrupt, oppressive, and uncaring political, bureaucratic, and judicial systems.

His core supporters consist of youth leaders, celebrities, and social media influencers groomed into INGO culture and ideals, emphasizing political narratives rooted in anti-corruption, good governance, transparency, accountability, policy reform advocacy, and inclusiveness.

However, this narrative is somewhat disconnected from the grassroots realities of Nepali politics, which are still deeply influenced by ideological and cultural affiliations, regional identities, religious sentiments, monetary transactions, in-group conflicts and contradictions, blind faith in politicians, and ethnic/caste-based loyalties. Beyond their protest, advocacy, intentions of good governance, and usual anti-corruption stance, this group lacks a comprehensive socio-economic and political vision to effectively address these issues.

Moreover, apart from his civic initiatives such as cleanup operations, anti-establishment narratives, and promises of administrative reforms, Balen Shah, like other emerging political leaders in Nepal, lacks clear and coherent positions on sensitive socio-political and economic issues such as minority rights, caste discrimination, class differences, inclusion, secularism, reservation, federalism, economic growth, industrialization, and governance reforms.

Populist Mayor without a socio-political and economic vision

Balen Shah’s political identity remains ambiguous, populist, and fluid. He has not aligned himself with any established ideological framework, whether socialism, capitalism, liberalism, identity politics, cultural nationalism, free-market economy, or democratic activism. His populist brand of politics cherry-picks narratives depending on what resonates most with public sentiment at a given moment.

As Mayor of Kathmandu, Balen Shah has tapped into anti-Indian sentiments with the display of the Greater Nepal map and instrumentalized religious figures within nationalistic frames. He even banned the Indian movie Adipurush in Kathmandu over the line “Sita is the daughter of India.” Whether leveraging nationalism, anti-establishment rhetoric, anti-India sentiment, middle-class frustrations with traditional party politics, cultural revivalism, or bureaucratic inefficiency, Balen Shah has mastered the art of positioning himself as an alternative voice without committing to a particular political worldview.

Under his leadership, the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office has launched various entrepreneurship and vocational training programs to address youth unemployment.

However, even after serious incidents of looting and burning of private businesses during the Gen-Z revolt, Balen Shah has neither condemned these acts nor taken meaningful steps to restore confidence among private business owners by forming a task force for business protection.

Without a safe and secure business environment in Kathmandu, his professional and vocational training programs are unlikely to translate into tangible employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for urban youth.

Furthermore, his aesthetic and heritage-oriented development and cleanup operations have appealed to upper-middle-class and elitist sensibilities, but his handling of urban poverty—with little concern for the informal economy—remains questionable. Additionally, Balen Shah’s use of aggressive rhetoric, romanticization of violence as a political agent, and character assassination of critics through social media has raised doubts about his political and ethical grounding in democratic values.

Needs political substance beyond populism

With his fearless and incorruptible image, Balen Shah could become a transformative national leader if he builds his political narrative on a pragmatic ideology supporting his vision for economic growth and inclusive governance. To emerge as a national leader, he first needs political substance that differentiates him from the political class he critiques.

Without a clear political vision and ideals, his populist politics risks casting him as part of an anti-social, anti-national, fringe, and undemocratic narrative, undermining his reputation as an incorruptible politician, the good work he has done as mayor, and his commitment to governance and administrative reform.

As an independent, incorruptible, and ideologically neutral figure focused primarily on the urban population, Balen Shah can exert pressure on traditional leaders. Yet he cannot become a national leader by merely embracing populism, being anti-KP Oli, or opposing established parties. He must define his socio-political and economic vision before others define it for him.

Kathmandu does not represent Nepal as a whole, and the country’s socio-political fabric is still woven with ethnic, caste, linguistic, class, and regional differences, as well as divides and inequalities. Gender equality, secularism, inclusiveness, proportionate representation, minority rights, and reservations for Madhesi, Janajati, Dalit, and backward communities are among the key achievements of Nepal’s current constitution.

Balen Shah and his followers, including emerging young leaders, must recognize that poor, working-class, discriminated, and marginalized communities have legitimate concerns and doubts about populist politicians. A populist politician without commitment to the constitution, democratic norms, inclusive rights, and the multi-party system risks exploiting exclusive nationalist sentiments—particularly those rooted in cultural, religious, or ethnic majoritarianism—for political gain.

Simply advocating for a directly elected prime minister is insufficient; the public deserves to know what Balen Shah, and all emerging young leaders like him, truly represent.