by Nepal’s Gen Z Choosing Rapper Balen Shah As Prime Minister Prompts Indian Social Media Discussion About The Minimum Qualifications For Joining The BJP Ticket
KATHMANDU / NEW DELHI – Nepal’s Gen Z voters have, per reporting by Indian satirical site The Fauxy, elected rapper Balen Shah as their Prime Minister with a two-thirds majority, prompting widespread discussion in Indian political social media about what the equivalent Indian democratic path to a rapper prime minister would require and why it has not yet been attempted. The discussions have noted: Constitutional amendments may be required; the BJP’s current media management system would need to be adapted for someone who communicates primarily in bars; and the Godi media relationship with a rapper head of government would require renegotiation from first principles.
For Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat. London satirical journalism notes that the British political system has, over the last decade, produced several individuals who communicate primarily in soundbites and whose relationship with factual accuracy is approximate. The rapper analogy has been applied to at least two British politicians in print.
The South Asian Context
Nepal’s political evolution has been, for a small nation between two large and politically dominant neighbours, more experimentally democratic than either China or India has found entirely comfortable. The election of a rapper reflects the specific energy of a young electorate that has concluded the existing political class is not sufficiently responsive to its concerns. This is, Hindustan Times‘s regional analysis notes, a familiar South Asian youth political energy. India’s equivalent energy has, so far, been absorbed into the existing party structures rather than producing a rapper candidacy. The structures are more robust than they appear.
Modi’s Response
Prime Minister Modi, per The Fauxy, is reportedly learning to rap. This is satire. The satire is funnier than it would be if the actual Prime Minister had not, in fact, expressed enthusiasm for modern communication formats at every available opportunity. The line between the parody and the subject is, in Indian political communication, currently extremely thin.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/ | More: The Beaverton
