Nepal, April 20 -- In one of his few famously short campaign speeches, the then prime minister hopeful Balendra Shah, amid loud cheers, asserted a populist development agenda in a Sudurpaschim assembly. "Whether it needs being tied to a tree", he declared, "sleeping in the road, or even imprisonment, development has to happen no matter what." In a similarly short speech up above in Karnali, touting his mayoral record upholding Indigenous heritage in Kathmandu, he pledged similar preservation and restoration efforts of Khas culture and traditions native to the region.

These two visions, of rapid development no matter what and preserving indigenous aspirations, seem disparate at first glance. If planned in advance, these visions can go han...