The 35-year-old reformist came to power following a wave of Gen Z-led protests that sent shockwaves through the country. Shah released a rap song the day ahead of his swearing in.
Nepal’s rapper-turned politician Balendra Shah was sworn into the country’s most powerful office on Friday, a month after he swept the general elections on promises of creating jobs and restoring political stability.
Shah, 35, is now the youngest person to be prime minister of the Himalayan nation in decades, and the first to be prime minister from the Madhesi community — an Indigenous community with strong cultural and linguistic similarities to its neighbor India.
“I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution… and fulfil my duty as the prime minister,” Shah said, dressed all in black and wearing his trademark dark sunglasses.
President Ram Chandra Poudel administered the oath at 12:34 p.m. local time — Hindu priests deem the 1-2-3-4 pattern auspicious. With an 80% Hindu population, astrology and numerology is deeply entrenched in Nepal’s culture.
