A moment of reckoning

It is a moment of reckoning for the government led by Narendra Modi. The Instagram reels of brutal suppres sion of students’ movement against systemic dysfunctionality and crisis of education will endure for months to come. Resignation by Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is less likely to be seen as an individual’s exit from Modi’s cabinet. It is as if the millions of youths getting back their voices and monopoly of the narratives built up defensively around Modi dispensation coming unstuck.

The moment marks a huge turnaround with a government that looked invincible thus far, being brought to its knees. Remember the words of Rajnath Singh uttered only a couple of days ago: Is government mein koi istifa nahin deta (no one resigns in this government). The government had to make a humiliating retreat. The turnaround has been much faster, more dramatic and more per sonal for Prime Minister Modi. The lava of anguish and anxiety over constant paper leaks, administrative incompetence and mounting cost of education for struggling families and massive unemployment had been churning below the surface for years.

It burst spontaneously into collective expression of anger. For the first time, the quality and credibility of India’s education system became a political issue.For far too long the Modi government had under estimated them as ones obsessed with reels rather than reality. The Cockroach Janta Party turned that stereotype on its head. The very social media which was viewed as a use full distractive tool inducing political apathy among the youth, became the instrument of mobilisation.

The Modi government still can take solace in the fact that the youth were largely leaderless and without a co gent objective. They were not led by any grey-haired, seasoned politicians. Yet they have demonstrated effectively how individual frustrations can burst out into col lective anger. They had no ideological or political baggage and nothing to lose. The government can ignore their voices only at its own peril.The Modi government’s instinctive response to such frustration was to condemn the critics, dismiss them by branding them as urban naxals, tukde-tukde gangs, khalistanis and andolan-jeevis. That strategy failed to click at the Jantar Mantar.

A dispensation imprisoned in its own-created hype of ‘Shining India’, received a rude jolt with teenagers demanding accountability from the political bosses and will not be satisfied with procedural corrections. It is time to recognise and realise that gov ernments cannot govern through denials and dismissal of criticism. It is futile to believe that government would outlast public anger. Public trust begins to erode as public exams lack trust and educational institutions lose their credibility.

NEET paper leak was the tipping point from where that pent up anger began to spill over the streets. The movement and the protest has also shown how a government-patronised media can shield realities from the eyes of the powers-that-be and prove itself to be a liability in moments of crisis. A definitive shift is now be ing witnessed from the mainstream media to the digital media platforms who have proved their worth in speaking truth and showing realities from the streets. It is time for the so-called primetime media warriors to realise where they belong at a time when people are looking for truth.