An Uncle’s guide to understanding the Gen-Z protest

A network of corruption in the education system washed away your efforts & the entrance exams that were meant to test your mettle turned out to be a mirage

Imagine you are a kid who comes from nothing. You grew up being told that hard work is greater than even going to a place like Harvard. You worked hard, believing that it would be your ticket to a better life. You pushed through the enormous mental and emotional strain of exam preparation and coaxed your family into taking on a tremendous financial burden to pay for your coaching classes thinking that if you did really well, you might even be able to change your family’s life. But when the time came to see if your hard work had paid off or not, you discovered that the only work that was important was a network. A network of corruption in the education system washed away your efforts and the entrance exams that were meant to test your mettle turned out to be nothing other than a mirage. Everything you were told was a lie, and you were now supposed to resign yourself to a life of poverty and obscurity. A life where you have no job, no prospects and no particular share in the ostentatious wealth that you see all around you on social media.

Against all odds, you and thousands like you organised yourselves into the biggest mass protest that the country has seen in over a decade and a half. You took your name from the description of you by an entitled authority figure and self-identified as what he and others saw you as- a repulsive cockroach. (ANI)

Against all odds, you and thousands like you organised yourselves into the biggest mass protest that the country has seen in over a decade and a half. You took your name from the description of you by an entitled authority figure and self-identified as what he and others saw you as — a repulsive cockroach. You and your peers braved the heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes, and even deliberately starved yourself, yet the establishment ignored you. But despite their best efforts, your grit and determination won out and began to capture the attention of the nation. They then decided to try and crush you like the insects they see you as and brought out that most dependable of repressive weapons, the Indian police force. The police had no compunction about beating you with nail-studded sticks, shocking you with electric batons, gassing you, slapping you, molesting you, cracking your skull. And yet, you did not break. They treated you so viciously that even those who had become old, tired, and cynical began to find their voice to cry out at the injustice being perpetrated on you.

The government was now forced to acknowledge you and your peers. Terrified that you might ignite a tinder box of discontent caused by rampant economic inequality and frustration, they decided to show that they are taking you seriously.

And what then was the so-called show of ‘seriousness’? They decided that a senior civil servant should move from one ministry to the other. They decided he should be replaced by someone already facing corruption allegations in their previous job. They decided that the senior policeman who went around slapping young girls should move from one police station to another. The ‘punishment’ was that their office would move from one building to another in the same city. They would continue to live the same sheltered life of senior civil servants with their wonderful houses and army of staff despite their actions. They decided to fast track the trial of the network of fixers but on the very same day gave a clean chit to the network’s alleged mastermind. They held a meeting of the union cabinet to discuss the entrance exam problem and resolved at the end of it all that they should all join Instagram.

When you quite reasonably said that none of this addressed your problems in the slightest or even came close to an authority figure taking responsibility for the harm caused to you — they started defaming you by calling you anti-nationals, attention seeking and foreign funded. This, despite the fact that you never once abandoned the path shown by Gandhiji even in the face of all of this provocation.

Truly imagine you are this kid! Imagine the sheer rage and frustration you would feel!!

If you can imagine it, perhaps you have made a start understanding these kids. And if you have in fact begun to understand, then perhaps the time has come to go to a protest and see for yourself as I did. I am certain that if you do, that seed of understanding will without doubt bloom into full blown admiration for these kids.

Prateek Chadha is advocate-on-record, Supreme Court of India. The views expressed are personal