Bandh, strikes and protests in Nepal

A bandh is called by a political party, a regional group, a union or an ethnic organisation, usually with a day or two of notice, and it may be nationwide, provincial or confined to a single district or highway.

During a bandh, shops shutter, schools and offices close, and private vehicles stay off the road. Enforcement is by activists at junctions rather than by the state, and vehicles that break it may be stopped, and occasionally have windows broken or be set alight. That is the specific reason not to drive.

Emergency vehicles, ambulances and — usually — clearly-marked tourist vehicles are exempt by convention. 'Usually' is doing real work in that sentence: the exemption is a norm, not a guarantee, and it is not honoured everywhere or by every group.

Treat it as a weather event: it will pass, and the correct response is to stay put and be supplied.

The practical damage is to itineraries rather than to people.

Bandhs are routine. Larger political unrest is less frequent but does occur — Nepal saw significant protests in September 2025, and foreign governments issued advisories during that period.

The rules during heightened unrest are the same but stricter: avoid crowds and demonstrations entirely, follow local news and your embassy's advisories, keep your phone charged and documents accessible, and have enough cash to sit still for several days if you need to.

Register with your embassy's traveller scheme if it has one. That registration is the mechanism by which embassies contact and, if necessary, assist their citizens during a crisis.

Curfews are used in Nepal during serious unrest and are enforced. If one is declared, stay indoors — this is not a situation where a foreign passport helps you.

It helps to understand rather than just endure them. The bandh became entrenched during Nepal's decades of political struggle — the movements against the Panchayat system and the monarchy, the Maoist conflict, and the long constitutional process — as a way for groups outside government to demonstrate reach and impose a cost without violence.

It remains effective because it is cheap to call and expensive to ignore. It is also increasingly unpopular with ordinary Nepalis, who bear the cost in lost daily earnings, and there has been a sustained public and legal pushback against transport bandhs in particular.

As a visitor, the useful attitude is neither outrage nor fascination. It is a normal part of Nepali political life that occasionally costs you a day, and Nepalis lose far more to it than you do.