Nepal, Oct. 6 -- Prime Minister Balendra Shah has once again turned to Facebook-and once again late at night. At 9:11 on Sunday, he posted that Khula Manch had been improved so a new party could hold an event there and hurl insults, perhaps at the government. The target was clear: Nepali Congress members had gathered at the very venue for the first day of their 15th General Convention.

Within hours, politicians across the spectrum were borrowing Shah's phrasing to tease their rivals, including Shah. In one sense, a prime minister's remark that becomes a meme has done its job. It also speaks volumes about the state of public discourse in Nepal.

Since his mayorship days and prior, Shah made late-night social media posts a routine way of c...