Inside Track: Politics’ Watershed Moment
It was a watershed moment in Indian politics, thanks to Gen Z. Traditional politicians, including Rahul Gandhi, have been left behind and are clambering onto the bandwagon of spirited, faceless youngsters.
A leaderless mob does not act in tandem. Akhilesh Yadav indicated Congress should not speak on behalf of all opposition before consultations. Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali, questioned the motives of both Rahul Gandhi and the BJP. It was a watershed moment in Indian politics, thanks to Gen Z. Traditional politicians, including Rahul Gandhi, have been left behind and are clambering onto the bandwagon of spirited, faceless youngsters. The Modi government’s grand design to push through its agenda of securing a two-thirds majority in Parliament in this session has stalled, not because its cynical game of accumulating MPs who have lost their moral compass has misfired, but because of the power of a spontaneous movement, which has captured the country’s imagination and sympathy, cutting across economic strata and traditional ideologies. Even the BJP’s elder statesman, Murli Manohar Joshi, voiced his support. The free-spirited harbingers of change, with their irrelevant memes and catchy Instagram reels, have outshone the traditional media — constrained by market compulsions and distribution networks. A section of television journalists were booed and booted out of the protest epicentre at Jantar Mantar.
A leaderless mob does not act in tandem. Akhilesh Yadav indicated Congress should not speak on behalf of all opposition before consultations. Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, Gitanjali, questioned the motives of both Rahul Gandhi and the BJP. AAP leaders dubbed the Congress the BJP’s B-team, accusing it of opportunistically entering the campaign. Chandra Shekhar Aazad’s party workers boasted they were ahead of others in tearing down police barricades to make way for the students. The CJP’s self-effacing spokespersons voiced no fear of being overshadowed and welcomed support from all quarters. But they are probably conscious that even they have no total command over the disparate sea of humanity. In his puzzling adamancy in not removing Dharmendra Pradhan, a non-negotiable demand of the protesters, Prime Minister Modi put both his government and personal reputation on the line. Eventually, however, better sense prevailed. The PM perhaps recalled the lessons of history. Even Jawaharlal Nehru perforce agreed to Krishna Menon quitting his Cabinet, Indira Gandhi reluctantly acceded to the students’ demand for Gujarat Chief Minister Chimanbhai Patel’s resignation, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee requested George Fernandes to step down as defence minister.
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