All is not well: On the protests in Delhi

Issue-driven mobilisation by civil society groups tends to remain orderly so long as the government of the day signals that it is willing to listen and engage with genuine concerns. The scenes from Delhi on July 20 , when mostly young demonstrators were chased, tear-gassed, and baton-charged within sight of the new Parliament building, with some allegedly struck by pellet guns, while mobile Internet was switched off and Metro stations were shut across the area, were avoidable. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) march escalated only after the police resorted to force. Had the Union government engaged with the protesters earlier, including activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was on an indefinite fast and forcibly hospitalised two days earlier, the confrontation could have been avoided. A meeting was eventually conceded through Union Minister J.P. Nadda, but only after thousands had reached Parliament’s doorstep. It came too late. That a movement born as online satire could gather millions of digital followers and bring thousands to the street says a great deal about the government’s own record, which has become the source of a litany of grievances. Recurring paper leaks in entrance examinations, the re-conducting of NEET, and the friction over the three-language formula have led to deep concerns that higher education is being administered without accountability by the government.