KATHMANDU, Nov 30: Singer Jyoti Magar has ignited fresh debate in Kathmandu’s political and social circles after publicly challenging Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balen Shah — and his ardent supporters — with a pointed set of seven questions.
Taking to her social media accounts on Saturday, Magar opened with a quip: had the mayor’s ten-day Tihar hiatus finally come to an end? From there, her post unfolded into a series of sharp, almost investigative queries targeting some of Balen’s signature pledges and simmering controversies.
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Among them: Has work on the much-talked-about new metropolitan building even begun? How much electricity has the waste-to-energy project actually generated so far? And is it really true that the metropolis now concludes official meetings in just five minutes?
Magar also took aim at the mayor’s once-ceaseless public visibility. “Where did those camerapersons who filmed him everywhere — from private parties and dozer operations to rap-battle guest appearances and even confidential municipal meetings — suddenly vanish?” she wrote on Facebook.
She capped her post with a final jab at another sensitive topic: the unresolved bigamy scandal involving Metropolitan Police Chief Raju Pandey, a close confidant of the mayor and often — half-jokingly, half-critically — dubbed Balen’s “Hanuman” by detractors.
Magar’s post has quickly gained traction online, fuelling conversation and adding new pressure on the mayor’s administration at a time when public scrutiny is already mounting.
