Tag: student movement India

Gen Z are our own, protesting doesn’t make them anti-national: Mohan Bhagwat

Mohan Bhagwat Defends Gen Z, Says Protest Is Democratic Right

Mumbai, August 6, 2026 — In a candid interaction with young students on Thursday, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat firmly rejected the idea that India’s Gen Z becomes anti-national simply by raising its voice. Speaking at the 15th anniversary celebrations of India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN) at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, he told a gathering of around 2,000 Gen Z and Gen Alpha participants that the younger generation belongs to the country and that agitation does not erase that belonging. Want to make it clear that if Gen Z engages in any agitation, they are not anti-national. They are our own people; they are our next generation,” Bhagwat said. He stressed that a sense of belonging and mutual respect must form the foundation of any conversation between generations. Only then, he argued, can real dialogue happen — one in which elders understand the concerns of the young and the young, in turn, understand the perspective of those who came before them. The remarks came against the backdrop of recent student-led protests, particularly over alleged irregularities and paper leaks in examinations such as NEET. Those demonstrations had grown intense in the national capital and elsewhere, with reports of police action including the use of tear gas and, in some accounts, pellet guns. Bhagwat was careful not to pronounce judgment on the specific incidents. He said he did not have complete, verified information about what had transpired between the police and the protesters, and therefore preferred not to draw conclusions. At the same time, he made his personal stance clear: “I will trust Gen Z blindly.” He described the grievances being voiced by young people — especially those related to the education system — as genuine. “There is a lot that needs to be done in Indian education; since it’s not happening, it’s being talked about,” he observed. Protest, in his view, is itself a form of dialogue in a democracy. When concerns are not heard through quieter channels, people may turn to agitation. The purpose of that agitation, however, should be to build consensus and correct systems, not to deepen divisions or target individuals. Bhagwat repeatedly returned to the character of the new generation. He said Gen Z and Gen Alpha are more honest than the existing generation. Appeals to patriotism and a spirit of service, he believed, find a genuine response in them. Unlike earlier generations that often accepted the word of elders without question, today’s young people ask for logical answers and also for affection and respect. “When we were at the age of Gen Z, we would listen to our elders. We never used to question. Now Gen Z wants logical answers,” he noted. He was clear that he would never tell young people they should not protest. Democracy, he said, provides ways of going about it. The methods laid out in the Constitution and the ideas of B.R. Ambedkar remain the framework. If youth are shouting, he suggested, it is usually not for the sake of opposition but for improvement. The task before society is to recognise that relationship of belonging and respond with dialogue rather than labels. The interaction itself was freewheeling. Students raised questions on education, jobs, reservation, social media, and even broader issues of national life. Bhagwat engaged with the questions directly, at one point picking up a contemporary expression from the audience and trying it out to laughter and applause. The tone of the evening was not one of lecture but of conversation — an older leader speaking to the generation that will inherit the country’s future. Bhagwat’s comments carry weight because of the organisation he leads and the moment in which they were delivered. In recent weeks, sections of public discourse had begun to question the motives of student protesters, sometimes casting them in an unfavourable light. By stating so plainly that these young people are “our own” and that protest does not make them anti-national, the RSS chief sought to shift the conversation toward understanding and engagement. He also touched on the practical need for better communication. Dialogue should always be the first step, he said. When something goes wrong that should not have happened, there is usually a deficiency somewhere that needs fixing. Whose responsibility it is may be debated later; the more important point is that the deficiency must be addressed. As the interaction drew to a close, the emphasis remained on relationship rather than confrontation. The younger generation asks questions and seeks logical answers. The older generation, Bhagwat suggested, must answer with both reason and warmth. Only then can the dialogue that democracy requires truly take place. Sources: India Today, The Indian Express, The Times of India, LiveMint, The Statesman, Firstpost, Times Now, NDTV, Deccan Herald, Outlook India, The Hindu, PTI, ANI (reports dated August 6, 2026). @⁨Rohit Manral⁩

Welcomed Him Like a Superstar: Priyanka Gandhi Hits Out at BJP MPs for Felicitating Pradhan

Priyanka Gandhi Questions BJP's Hero-Style Reception for Dharmendra Pradhan

Yesterday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was speaking about on Tuesday when she tore into BJP MPs for the way they welcomed Dharmendra Pradhan back into Parliament. Just two days after Pradhan resigned as Education Minister, some of his party colleagues in the Parliament complex greeted him with a traditional cap, a stole, and loud slogans of “Pradhan Zindabad.” They treated him like he’d just returned from winning a big match. Priyanka didn’t hold back. “Don’t you think it is shameful?” she asked. “Everyone saw the circumstances under which Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, but yesterday in the Parliament premises, he was welcomed as if he were a superstar!” Those circumstances weren’t some quiet office decision. For weeks, young people—students who had prepared for years for exams that decide their entire future—had been out on the streets. The NEET paper leak controversy and a string of exam irregularities had left thousands feeling cheated. Protests at Jantar Mantar and across the country grew louder and more determined. Families of students who took their own lives after being forced to retake exams were still grieving. The pressure finally forced Pradhan to step down on 25 July. He said he was doing it so that “anti-national forces” wouldn’t take advantage and so students could focus on their studies again. Many in the opposition and among the protesters saw it differently—they called it a victory for the youth who refused to stay quiet. And then, barely 48 hours later, the same man walks into Parliament and gets a hero’s reception from his own side. Opposition MPs weren’t having it. They shouted “Chor, chor, paper chor” right back. The contrast was hard to miss. Priyanka didn’t stop at the welcome. She pointed out that even now, students are still being targeted. She spoke about Instagram posts showing photographs of young women being accused of things, and she asked a simple question: Are you actually trying to talk and fix the mess, or are you still more interested in suppressing the students? “This is wrong,” she said. “No one can trust the Modi government.” Her brother Rahul Gandhi had already said his piece the day before. In a post on X, he called Pradhan a lasting symbol of corruption and of an education system that has failed India’s children. He reminded everyone that the system had claimed the lives of 26 young people and pushed lakhs of others onto the streets. Pradhan didn’t resign out of any sudden moral awakening, Rahul said—he resigned because the anger of the youth scared the government. And now the BJP was putting a garland on that same person inside Parliament. “This is not an honour,” Rahul wrote. “It is a celebration of the ruined futures of lakhs of children. Every student in the country is watching this, and will remember every face involved.” There’s something deeply uncomfortable about the whole scene. On one side you have students who exhausted months studying, only to find the exam paper had been leaked, their hard work wasted, their mental health bone-tired. On the other side you have politicians inside the highest temple of democracy treating the man who presided over that mess like a returning champion. It sends a message, whether intentional or not: the real power still belongs to those who can manage the optics, not to those who suffer the consequences. Of course politics is full of these moments. One day a minister is under fire, the next day the party closes ranks and puts on a show of strength. But when the issue involves the future of an entire generation of students—kids who trusted the system enough to put their dreams on the line—the performance feels especially tone-deaf. The “Cockroach Janta Party” protests may have quietened after the resignation, but the bitterness hasn’t disappeared. Young people are still watching. Parents are still watching. And the families who lost children are still carrying a grief that no slogan can erase. Priyanka’s words cut through the usual political noise because they were plain. She didn’t need long speeches or complicated arguments. She simply pointed at what everyone could see and asked if it wasn’t shameful. In a country where education is still the biggest hope for jumping out of poverty and building a better life, the way leaders treat a crisis in that system matters more than any temporary show of loyalty inside the Parliament gates. Sources: @Rohit Manral

Dharmendra Pradhan Steps Down as Education Minister After Weeks of Student Protests at Jantar Mantar; Centre Moves to Clear the Site

Dharmendra Pradhan Resigns After Jantar Mantar Student Protests

On Saturday in Delhi. After more than a month of students camping out at Jantar Mantar under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP as everyone has started calling them, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced his resignation. And almost right after that, the government began taking steps to clear the protest site that had become the centre of the whole storm. It all started with the NEET-UG paper leaks and the long list of anomalies that followed. The CJP, led by Abhijeet Dipke, turned that furious into a continual sit-in at Jantar Mantar starting around mid-June. What began with a few dozen people grew into thousands. They stayed through the heat, through police action, through rounds of talks with the Centre. Their main demand was simple and stubborn: Pradhan must go. By Friday, after a second meeting at the Constitution Club, the government asked for one more day. The students said they would wait till Saturday afternoon. Then, earlier than anticipate, Pradhan posted on X. He said he was taking moral responsibility. He wrote that he did not want the protests to be used by what he called anti-national forces, and that students should be able to get back to their studies without getting stuck in legal cases or endless perturbation. The President accepted the resignation the same day on the counsel of the Prime Minister. Within hours, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi was given additional charge of the Education Ministry. Dipke told the crowd it was their first big breakthrough, though he made it clear the movement was not over. Later in the day, the CJP said they were calling off the protest “in good faith.” They had secured a few other things too — talk of compensation for families of students who died by suicide, and a promise that FIRs against protesters would be looked at. Activist Sonam Wangchuk, who had been on a hunger strike in support, also ended it. Now the Centre is moving to clear Jantar Mantar. Police presence increased after the resignation announcement. There had already been tear gas earlier in the day when things got tense before the news broke. Officials want the site back to normal as quickly as possible. For the students who spent weeks living there, it feels like a rare moment when the government actually blinked. For the government, it is a way to close a chapter that was becoming politically costly and starting to spread beyond Delhi. Walking around Jantar Mantar in the days leading up to this, you could feel how personal it had become. Kids from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra — many of them first-generation students aiming for medical seats — talked about the money their parents had spent on coaching, the pressure, the feeling that one leaked paper could destroy years of work. The “cockroach” name itself started as an insult and was turned into a badge. The government, for its part, had been trying to manage the situation carefully. Talks happened, some concessions were offered, but the resignation demand stayed non-negotiable for the students. Giving Pradhan the exit and handing the portfolio to Joshi looks like an attempt to reset the conversation. Joshi is a senior leader with experience in organisation work. Whether that translates into faster reforms in the testing system is something everyone will be watching. In the end, what happened on 25 July feels like one of those moments when street pressure actually forced a ministerial change in a system that usually moves very slowly. The students are packing up, the tents will come down, and Jantar Mantar will go back to being the usual protest ground for other issues. But the questions they raised about fairness in education will not disappear with them. Sources: The Hindu, BBC News, Al Jazeera, NDTV, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, NPR, reports from July 25, 2026. @Rohit Manral