Modi unnerved

DISCONTENT is visible in India. Delhi has been on the boil since last month. As thousands took to the streets calling for the education minister’s resignation, galvanised by educationist-activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger-strike, the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party, a youth-led rights movement, grew from a few hundred to the largest challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi so far. Several paper leaks have affected 2m students and reportedly led to 21 suicides. Chaos erupted when the police used batons, tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds, injuring over 150. The crackdown sparked demonstrations in several parts of India with a flash protest by the Congress party at Mr Modi’s door. Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders were arrested.

For over a decade, Hindutva nationalism and polarisation has overshadowed India’s Gandhian code and Nehruvian social justice. But divisive agendas and oppression have their limits. In the past — be it the farmers’ agitation, female wrestlers’ protest against sexual harassment or the Shaheen Bagh sit-in — the ultra-right regime has cracked down on dissent. It seems that now rule by fear is losing ground as the government struggles to answer a basic question: what is the future for ordinary Indian youth? Desperation is hard to contain. Hence, the wrath that cuts across social divides is now pinned on Mr Modi. As pressure mounts, a hasty promise of educational reforms from the minister in question shows that power is rattled. Wider frustrations — poor official accountability, loss of jobs, inflation and absence of trust in institutions — also underpin the rising ire. The truth is that brutal responses seem to have turned into self-inflicted blows; suppression of all protests and dissenting voices has become draconian and predictable. At a time when most channels of expression are either vulnerable or controlled, the movement has to some extent freed people from fear. Such is the power of the democratic spirit.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2026

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