Now Reading: Gen Z kanwariyas barefoot, jobless, six hundred km for likes
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Gen Z kanwariyas barefoot, jobless, six hundred km for likes
The Hindu reports that among the 5 crore pilgrims who visited Haridwar this Kanwar season, many are young, jobless men walking hundreds of kilometres barefoot while documenting the journey on social media.…
The Story in Brief
The Hindu reports that among the 5 crore pilgrims who visited Haridwar this Kanwar season, many are young, jobless men walking hundreds of kilometres barefoot while documenting the journey on social media. Rajat Singh, 21, from Kathua, walked 600 km in 26 days and gained 10,000 followers. A college dropout, he blogs as a ‘kattar Hindu’ and earns nothing from his side career. Others like Aniket, a Dalit linesman earning Rs 9,500 a month, spends a third of his income on the yatra. Most interviewed had no grasp of the pilgrimage’s history. They defer to the state and see no contradiction in criticising Muslims for praying on roads while accepting state-facilitated processions and helicopter flower showers.
The Indian Opinion
The story of Rajat Singh and others like him is often reduced to either blind faith or a vote bank for the ruling party. But these young men are also jobless, using social media to fill the void left by a stalled economy. They cheer state patronage of their yatra while condemning Muslims for offering namaz on the road, an inconsistency that many pundits ignore. The real test will come if their online clout actually forces politicians to address youth unemployment, rather than just cater to religious sentiment.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
