In mid-January, Nepal’s oldest party, the Nepali Congress, was in turmoil. A cohort of young leaders led by Gagan Thapa launched a mutiny against the party’s old guard, which refused to relent despite growing internal pressure.
Mr. Thapa then marshalled his supporters to convene a “special convention” of the party, a move that culminated in his election as party president. Now, the Nepali Congress heads into elections under the leadership of the 49-year-old, claiming that the party has undergone internal reform and promising to carry that change into governance if voted to power. Many view Mr. Thapa’s rise as the culmination of a long and often contentious internal struggle. For years, he was seen as a permanent dissenter — vocal against leadership excesses, openly critical of entrenched practices, and persistent in demanding structural change within the party.
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His call for generational change grew sharper after the September Gen Z protests, which demanded not only an end to corruption and misgovernance but also a shift in political leadership — from ageing elites to younger figures. Mr. Thapa argued that if the establishment was unwilling to allow a generational transition through the party’s regular convention, a special convention was necessary to force change. And he did it.
