Kathmandu, March 7: Balendra Shah ‘Balen’, the rapper-turned-politician who won Kathmandu’s 2022 mayoral polls as an independent, has become the face of a generational change, symbolising a break from Nepal’s traditional parties.
Popular as ‘Balen,’ the prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) defeated four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli, the chair of Nepal’s legacy party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) – CPN-UML – by a huge margin of about 50,000 votes in Jhapa-5 constituency on Saturday.
The 35-year-old engineer was a popular choice to lead the interim government after Gen Z youths toppled the K P Sharma Oli-led coalition government in September last year, following two-day nationwide violent protests against corruption and a ban on social media.
But Balen declined then to lead the interim government, saying he would rather head the government by contesting the parliamentary election for a full term.
In January, he joined the newly formed RSP, led by Ravi Lamichhane, and was soon declared the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
As the Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor, Balen is credited with sweeping reform programmes and the beautification of the metropolis.
In his resignation letter, Balen said, as the Mayor of Kathmandu, “I have performed my duty in an honest manner as far as possible for the welfare of the metropolis and its inhabitants.”
Born in Kathmandu in a family originally from Madhesh province, Balen is the youngest son of Ram Narayan Shah, an Ayurved practitioner, and Dhruvadevi Shah, a homemaker. He was keen on music and poetry from a young age and turned to rap music during his education days.
After completing a Civil Engineering degree from Kathmandu, Balen did his Masters in Structural Engineering from the Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) in Karnataka.
He married Sabina Kafle in 2018, and the couple has a 2023-born daughter.
Balen’s official YouTube page (@BalenShah with ‘Rapper, Lyricist, Music Composer’ as his description) lists about a million subscribers.
Balen released his first single song, Sadak Balak, in 2012, when he was one year short of his matriculation. The very next year, he participated in a YouTube battle rap series, gaining widespread recognition across Nepal’s music lovers.
Sudip Manandha, a young musician based in Kathmandu, who had closely watched Balen as a rapper, said, “Balen won the hearts of thousands of youths through his rap songs that usually hit the existing system in our society. He used to sing satirical songs portraying social anomalies, exposing corruption and political mis-management.”
It was perhaps this popularity that the young leader capitalised to enter politics and successfully contested the mayoral 2022 polls with his campaign slogan for ‘change’, targeting youngsters, most of them his followers on his social media platforms and were getting fed up with traditional parties’ musical chair politics.
No wonder, when Oli banned social media in Nepal in 2025, Balen was amongst the prominent voices to protest the move.
Earlier, months after he won as an independent, Balen was named in the ‘Top 100 Emerging Leaders of 2023’ by Time magazine, which described how he ran his campaign using multiple social media platforms “to harness voter anger over the status quo.”
“In a city still reeling from a deadly 2015 earthquake, Shah’s campaign promises were simple but offered desperately needed fixes: better waste disposal and sanitation, safe drinking water, clean roads, and the preservation of cultural heritage alongside urban development,” the magazine said.
Naveen Manandhar, ward chairman of ward 17 in the Kathmandu Metropolis, recalled the “good governance and transparency” that Balen introduced in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City during his three-and-a-half year tenure.
“Balen introduced skill oriented extra-curricular activities in the schools within Kathmandu metropolis. Under his leadership the Kathmandu metropolis introduced vocational training in different areas which benefited around 60,000 to 70,000 youths within a couple of years helping them to get employment in different fields,” Manandhar said.
However, Balen’s mayoral tenure was not without controversy.
“He faced flak when there were widespread demolitions in the capital. He was also accused of not sending a fire brigade when Gen Z protesters resorted to arson,” said a critique.
Balen chose the Jhapa-5 constituency in eastern Nepal’s Koshi province to take on the four-time prime minister Oli, who is also the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) chairman.
While Balen represented the emerging youth force of Nepal, Oli was the face of the conservative old guard.
People identified Balen with his signature dark goggles and black blazer most of the time, but it was a small metal bell, the RSP symbol, that he carried to his political rallies and used during his speeches to warn the opposition. (PTI)
