While he has hordes of admirers, his detractors are no less vehement against the mayor
KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 18
In the midst of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah's controversial remarks and image, his name in the TIME NEXT100 has preoccupied people here.
The public are yet to scrutinise some of Mayor Shah's actions and expressions.
Meanwhile, reputed American magazine, TIME has included him in the list of 100 emerging leaders of this year.
Every year, TIME selects emerging people from various fields such as politics, health, environment, sports and business across the globe and puts them on the list. It entails the details of the individuals, including their photos and names, and highlights the impacts of their work.
As soon as the name of the charismatic mayor of Kathmandu was announced in the list, it occupied an extensive space in the public sphere, including social media.
While majority of people congratulated him, a few of them have raised their eyebrows regarding some of Mayor Shah's actions and statements.
"Congratulations! And good luck, Achieve all the success with alertness and awareness," wrote Raju Bajracharya.
Similarly, many of them wrote it was a proud moment for Nepal and Nepali people. However, Kashi Panthi said, "Everything is good but Mayor Balendra Shah needs to be calm and composed. All the sides are perfect but you need to be polite and diplomatic. An optimistic leader."
TIME included Mayor Shah in the list of the 2023 TIME100 NEXT and highlighted his unexpected victory in the last local level elections.
TIME mentioned that 33-year-old Shah, who ran as an independent candidate, created the 'Balen effect' by using social media to exploit voter disenchantment. As a result, 385 independent candidates succeeded in defeating established politicians across the country, according to TIME.
Prior to TIME magazine, another American newspaper The New York Times published a lengthy feature on Mayor Shah in May. Shah has been embroiled in controversy ever since he assumed the post of mayor due to his blunt expressions and remarks on social media.
Recently, he was severely criticised for his statement after he threatened the central secretariat, Singha Durbar, when a vehicle of the KMC was stopped. Taking to his official Facebook page, Mayor Shah had posted, "It is okay for today, but if any vehicle of KMC is stopped by traffic police in future, I will set Singha Durbar ablaze. Mind it, thief government!"
Similarly, Mayor Shah was criticised after he said he was not going to abide by the law and follow the court order.
Consequently, he is facing a lawsuit.
Some young people protested against the KMC and the metropolis police for 'inhumane behaviour' during the management of cart vendors, bicycles and those who do petty business on the footpaths within the metropolitan area.
He has also been criticised for snatching away the livelihood of daily wagers rather than managing them in a systematic way.
Some people have praised his work related to matters such as arranging scholarships in educational institutions, paying attention to cleanliness in the metropolis, making the footpath pedestrian-friendly, among others.
On the other hand, political analysts have said that the magazine has done a perfect analysis and put him in the right place. According to political analyst Vijay Mishra, Mayor Shah is a visionary leader. "He has reformed various sectors. He has focused on various areas from streets to schools and made arrangements of scholarship quota and beds for the vulnerable ones in the hospitals. However, political cadres' inclination towards dirty politics, is not able to digest the transformation and his good works. Hence, they are having a troublesome time with Mayor Shah's success."
Talking to THT, Mishra said, "It is true that he needs to be watchful and not let emotion drive him. But alas, we are all humans and humans make mistakes."
"His expressions were full of emotions. But somehow they are correct in the context of Nepal. For example, burning Singha Durbar was a symbolic message to the leaders to correct their ways and not be a threat to the government."
A version of this article appears in the print on September 19, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
