Balen Shah just made history by becoming the first rapper-turned-politician to arrest a sitting ex-prime minister, and Nepal’s political landscape will never be the same.
The 35-year-old Hip-Hop artist, who was sworn in as prime minister on Friday after his party’s landslide election victory, wasted no time moving against Khadga Prasad Oli, the former PM who resigned after 76 people were killed during a police crackdown on anti-corruption protests last September.
Oli got arrested Saturday morning at his home on the outskirts of Kathmandu as part of an investigation into whether he was negligent in failing to stop the violence.
This isn’t just another political arrest in Nepal.
This is a rapper who spent years calling out corruption in his music now holding the actual power to prosecute it.
Shah’s party won the election by a landslide because voters were furious about those September deaths, and they wanted someone willing to hold the old guard accountable.
Oli never served a full five-year term in any of his four stints as PM, and his popularity tanked after the protests, which he actually blamed on bands of rogue rappers.
Shah beat him in his own home constituency, which basically sealed the deal that the people wanted change.
The investigation panel found that Oli and former home minister Ramesh Lekhak were responsible for not taking action to stop police from firing on protesters for hours.
Both men got arrested, and Oli’s supporters immediately hit the streets, clashing with police who used tear gas and batons to break up the demonstrations.
His Communist Party called the arrest illegal and claimed it was revenge, demanding his immediate release and promising more protests across all 77 districts.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism on Facebook, saying this is “the beginning of justice” and that the country will take a new direction now.