Sudan Gurung, the 36-year-old founder of Hami Nepal (We Are Nepal), used the messaging app Discord and Instagram to mobilize mass demonstrations that forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign, in the deadliest political crisis to hit the Himalayan nation in decades, a dozen people involved in the demonstrations said.
The group used VPNs to access banned platforms and issued calls to action that reached tens of thousands of young people, they added.
“I was invited to join a Discord group with about 400 members. We were asked to join a protest march a few kilometers from parliament,” 18-year-old student Karan Kulung Rai, who is not part of the group, told Reuters.
Hami Nepal’s earlier social media posts on Discord have become so influential that they have been featured on national television. As the protests grew more violent, the group also identified messages it called “fake news” and shared hospital phone numbers.
Members of Hami Nepal, who asked not to be named because they used aliases online for security reasons, said Gurung and the group’s other leaders have since become instrumental in making major decisions, including appointing a new interim leadership until the March 5 election.
They have already convinced the country’s president and army chief to appoint former Supreme Court chief justice Sushila Karki, known for her strong stance against corruption, as Nepal’s first interim prime minister, three members of the group said.
“I will make sure that the power is in the hands of the people and bring every corrupt politician to justice,” Gurung said at his first press conference since the protests on Thursday.
On Sunday, Gurung and his team were in meetings to decide on key cabinet positions and proposed that some government officials appointed by the previous administration be removed, Hami Nepal members said.
