NEW DELHI (AP) — Kashish Rawat visited New Delhi on Saturday to protest. She didn’t tell her parents she was going.
When the 22-year-old economics student arrives in the Indian capital, she discovers a transformed city. Metal barricades blocked the streets as police attacked young demonstrators, beating some, dragging others on buses and chase away others. Protesters filmed police violence on their phones and the videos quickly went viral on social media.
Repression aimed to prevent crowds of mostly young Indians from gathering to demonstrate against a purge of the electoral lists they say they favor the Prime Minister Narendra Modi party. This did not deter Rawat, who remained in the street until the evening, out of reach of the police.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’ll come back and make our voices heard,” she said.
Indian-led protests Youth movement “Cockroach” This situation intensified earlier this month following the ongoing review of voter rolls which has already removed more than 130 million names since last year. Critics say the campaign is politically motivated and threatens to disenfranchise millions more people. They demanded the resignation of Chief Election Officer Gyanesh Kumar.
The Election Commission says this exercise is necessary to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
Modi has not commented publicly on the protests. Some leaders in his party called the protesters “anarchists” and suggested, without providing evidence, that they were supported by foreign powers.
The conflict touched the heart of Indian democracy: the right to vote. It is also a test of whether a generation raised under Modi, who has been prime minister for more than 12 years, can turn its growing disillusionment into an enduring challenge to his Hindu nationalist government.
“I don’t see him as all-powerful,” Rawat said of Modi. “I view him as someone we elected. So I don’t understand why we should be afraid to question him.”
A test for Indian democratic institutions
India’s democratic institutions have collapsed increasing pressure under Modi, critics accusing his government of weakening checks on executive power, curb dissent and targeting religious minorities, especially Muslims. Press freedom groups have also expressed concerns about pressure on independent media.
The government rejects the accusations, saying its institutions remain strong and law enforcement targets violations of the law, not dissent.
But for many young Indians, the institutions they grew up in are not delivering on their promises. They see a political culture hostile to dissent, in which challenging those in power can lead to harm. The conflict over the electoral roll exacerbated these frustrations, giving a generation’s discontent a common cause.
Earlier this summer, protesters forced the resignation of Modi’s education ministeroffering a rare example of street pressure resulting in political change. Their mobilization since then reflects a wider wave of youth protests in other countries, notably in South Asiawhere Gen Z protesters challenged political elites.
For Maya Ribeiro, a 19-year-old student, the voter roll controversy raised questions about a democratic right they took for granted.
At Saturday’s protests, where the sociology student was joined by two friends, Ribeiro said they had registered to vote because they believed participating in a democracy was both a right and a responsibility. But the prospect of more voters being removed from the lists makes Ribeiro fear that their right to vote will not be assured. Ribeiro said this made the fight around the electoral process more urgent.
“When we talk about the institution of voting, it’s an important institution, but it’s an institution that needs to be cleaned up,” Ribeiro said.
Police repression has increased the anger of young people
The widespread police crackdown has given young Indians more reason to take to the streets, protesters said. They called the response to a planned protest disproportionate in a democracy.
Aryan Kajaniya, a 21-year-old philosophy student, said the conflict reflected a broader disillusionment among young Indians with the country’s political system. He and other protesters, he said, were unsure how to exercise their right to free speech when authorities could restrict gatherings and arrest demonstrators.
“People are actively trying to gather more information about what is happening in the capital. They come from different cities, but the system is actively trying to suppress us,” he said.
The movement’s reach extends beyond the crowds in the streets. Many protesters said they did not identify with any particular group or political party, but were motivated by common concerns.
Ribeiro said conversations among friends, debates at home and exchanges on social media transformed their private frustration into collective action.
After years of feeling powerless, the protests have given young Indians like them a renewed sense of political agency, they said. This shift was visible during the “cockroach” protests earlier this summer, when demonstrators broke a long-standing taboo by openly mocks Modi.
“I believe we are at a point where we have been so disillusioned that we are now more resilient than ever,” Ribeiro said.
Defying Modi will require more than street protests
Challenging a leader as entrenched as Modi is no easy task. He has dominated Indian politics for over a decade, and his Hindu nationalist The Bharatiya Janata Party has built a formidable electoral machine. Opposition parties have had difficulty transforming previous discontent with his government in sustained national challenge.
Youth protests must also come together to form a coherent political alternative. But for many, creating space to question government has become a struggle in itself. And that comes at a cost.
Rawat said politics had become a recurring source of tension in his family. She believes her parents’ views were shaped by television coverage favorable to Modi’s party, and that their disagreements sometimes led her to stop speaking to those close to her.
“I always try my best to have a conversation with them, but I have failed so far,” she said.
For Ribeiro, the question is whether young Indians can turn their anger into a lasting movement for transparency and accountability. They said the protests helped young people recognize that their voices could matter.
“I think for the first time in a very long time … I felt a kind of renewed belief in what democracy can do,” Ribeiro said.
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