Now Reading: Gen Z protesters mask up to hide from BJP-voting parents
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Gen Z protesters mask up to hide from BJP-voting parents
Young protesters at the July 20 Jantar Mantar march wore masks not to evade the police but to hide from their own families, many of whom are devoted BJP supporters. A 21-year-old…
The Story in Brief
Young protesters at the July 20 Jantar Mantar march wore masks not to evade the police but to hide from their own families, many of whom are devoted BJP supporters. A 21-year-old from Bihar said his parents are hardcore BJP backers, while another feared being recognised on television. The protest against India’s corrupt examination system drew brutal police action with nailed lathis and tear gas. Some BJP MPs have privately told media the “fiasco could have been avoided”. While many parents marched alongside their children in solidarity, the masks reveal a widening inter-generational rift inside the BJP's social coalition. Similar Gen Z protests in the US over Gaza have reshaped politics there, but Indian Gen Z has yet to take up that issue.
The Indian Opinion
Commentary veers between declaring this the beginning of the BJP's end and dismissing it as a few college students. Neither fits. The masks worn by young protesters to hide from their own BJP-supporting families are real, as are the private admissions by some MPs that the police action was mishandled. But families are not voting blocs, and parties survive internal dissonance. The real test will come in the next election: will these young voters actually shift their ballots, or will they return to the family fold?
Sources (2): frontline.thehindu.com, nationalheraldindia.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above.
Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources.
