Youth Upsurge Sweeping Modi’s 'Amrit Kaal': ABVP 'Deployed' to Counter Dissent

How quickly the nation’s political mood has changed since the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) showdown on July 20. Unlike the "Modi hai to mumkeen hai (If Modi is there, everything is possible)" days, public agitation is no more taboo. It is no longer confined to struggling farmers of the green belt or the exploited tribal groups in faraway regions.

The CJP agitation has opened the floodgates of street protests by hitherto suppressed subaltern groups. For over a decade, mainstream media had ignored their sufferings and those outside their circles were unaware of the miserable conditions of millions. Evidently, the voices from the margins have reached Delhi’s power corridors.

It has spread from Delhi and Ranchi to other state capitals and deep interiors like Rampur, Hamirpur and Unnao. In Delhi, students in large numbers held a demonstration outside the University Grants Commission (UGC) office against the decision to conduct National Eligibility Test (NET) exams for three subjects. They demanded the scrapping of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

There has been a wave of protests Gen Z and Gen Alpha students across states in the past fortnight. Children have walked out of classrooms, marched to government offices, locked school gates, sat on roads and demanded answers from officials. For what? Fans in classrooms, clean drinking water, functioning toilets, teachers, better food, desks, libraries and, in one case, a road to school.

The youth wave – both Gen-Z and Gen Alpha – has happened for the first time since 2014. It has already spread to BJP-ruled states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. In Unnao, the protest called out poor food, lack of drinking water and a shortage of teachers. Over 250 girl students at J.P. Sarvodaya School came out to protest against teacher shortage and basic amenities.

Gen Alpha is emerging as a new force in India's protest landscape. From Jharkhand's Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) protests to UP's Hamirpur district's students' demand for a paved road to their school, the agitation comes in the wake of the CJP-led student movement last month.

The CJP was forced to cancel its press conference in Kolkata after the hall it had booked was denied to it at the last minute, allegedly due to government pressure. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was activated to counter the CJP protests. Incidentally, CJP's founder Abhijeet Dipke received threatening letters asking him to disband the CJP and join the BJP.

In an article for The Print, Ashutosh Varshney, Sol Goldman Professor, referring to the surge of student mobilisations across the country, wrote, "India’s youth would rather have a job than government’s food handouts. To win elections, Modi government has relied mostly on government subsidies, not created enough employment. Gen Z protests show this strategy has reached a dead end."

The government's response

The Modi-Shah regime seems to have different plans to deal with the Gen-Z and the Gen Alpha. With this in mind, BJP ministers are being sent to woo university authorities, principals and parents through pressure and inducements. This is being done on a big scale, with ground-level support from state leaders.

But the youth is more complex and calls for harsher measures. They are better organised and have wider experience in life and varied backgrounds. They remain scattered but are better equipped to challenge government pressure. So Modi-Shah has drafted a multi-pronged action plan to tackle them, which includes outright obstruction as well as positive propaganda.

Also read: Can Modi and Shah Recalibrate After the Youth Uprising or Will They Push for More Centralised Power?

The ministers have been directed to visit universities and other educational institutions and engage with students. The other, perhaps more effective, strategy is a stronger social media campaign by the government. Modi has asked ministers to be active against “disinformation” and to use Instagram and reels to connect with the youth. He has also asked them to report back to him.

At the same time, the government has adopted a totally adversarial approach towards the CJP. Its ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign has met with threats and entry bans in BJP-ruled states, including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In these states, CJP members have encountered growing hostility while attempting to inspect or highlight conditions in government schools.

In Rajasthan, the CJP campaign appears to have had the desired effect. The state government has now unveiled a Rs 12,500 crore school revamp plan. Such a prompt official response is an indication of how well the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign has resonated with the general public.

The media and the changing political mood of the country

Unlike mainstream media, which usually operated in Modi's "man ki baat" mode, foreign media has been sharp and blunt in their commentaries. Modi must learn the right lessons from the protests by India’s fast-growing Gen Z, a prominent US daily said. Meanwhile, Modi has accordingly recast his social media machinery to deal with the changed national mood towards Gen Z, according to CNN.

A study by the Reuters Institute highlighted Gen Z’s distrust of India’s “lapdog” media. A large banner at the Jantar Mantar protest site displayed the faces of mainstream television news anchors, dubbing them "India’s worst enemies," "more dangerous than terrorists or anti-nationals." It said Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, India’s two richest men and close allies of Narendra Modi, own vast TV news networks.

While largely pro-government television channels focused on policemen who were injured, newspapers such as The Hindu and Hindustan Times fact-checked what they described as exaggerated claims. The Reuters study said a new generation of phone-and-mic journalists covered the movement, particularly through parallel media that shook the establishment.

Apparently, the Gen Z and Gen Alpha protests have unsettled the Modi-Shah establishment. The first casualty of this mood change has been the much-exalted "Modi magic." Clearly, the ruling duo is losing the plot. Look at their nervousness. All normal functions of the Modi government seem to have given way to tackling the Gen Z-Alpha "disaster." Ministers have no time to attend to official work.

Otherwise, how could Rashtrapati Bhavan commit such a shameful flip-flop with wider diplomatic implications? That apart, the BJP-ruled states have the biggest fault line. When Amit Shah began handpicking non-entity novices as chief ministers, the idea was that they would be amenable to day-to-day micromanaging from Delhi. This continued for some time.

Also read: Why India's Youth Feel Let Down Today

But when his workload increased, the states were left to manage themselves. Now, most of these chief ministers are finding it difficult to tackle the conflicting demands from varied sections. Many are also struggling with corruption charges.

Another worry for the Modi-Shah regime has been a sudden surge of anti-reservation groups who pasted posters and gathered at Jantar Mantar. Carrying saffron flags and banners, the protesters demanded replacing caste-based reservation with “merit-based” reservation. Though the BJP regime has already introduced 10% reservation on economic criteria, any public agitation will have tremendous implications in the coming years, particularly with the UP elections approaching in 2027.

The shrinking space for dissent

We have earlier mentioned that Narendra Modi was the first Indian prime minister to impose a ban on protests in front his house. Recently, Rahul Gandhi and others were arrested for holding a dharna near the prime minister’s residence. Arvind Kejriwal was arrested when he marched towards the prime minister’s residence over the E20 issue. Before Modi, no other prime minister had imposed a similar ban.

Now we are told that there is a move to close Jantar Mantar to protesters and individuals seeking redress. For decades, the Boat Club and India Gate area served as venues for protests and dissent. Later, Jantar Mantar became the alternative. Now, some faraway vacant area with a single approach road is being considered as a new venue – ostensibly for easier "crowd management."

Denial of legitimate space for dissent has been an important element in a dictator’s toolkit. Against this, expressing dissent, personal or collective, has always been an integral part of a functioning democracy. Old democracies have traditionally provided adequate space for political dissent in close proximity to the seat of power. The idea is to make rulers hear the people.

According to an eminent architect-columnist, old democracies from Washington to Paris to Cairo have public places for protests as part of their city architecture. In Washington, there are Freedom Plaza and Lafayette Square. Paris has the Champs-Élysées, while Beijing has Tiananmen Square. Cairo’s Tahrir Square is known for the Arab Spring movement.

Mexico City’s Zócalo is surrounded by the country’s administrative buildings. London’s Hyde Park is a well-known public space for expressing dissent. Hong Kong has its Democracy Wall for youth to voice their personal as well as community concerns. In India, we do not have enough public squares to talk, draw or demonstrate. Whatever semblance of public space exists is now being dismantled.

P. Raman is a veteran journalist.

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