The multiple protests at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi have shaken our body politic no end. While the Cockroach Janta Party precipitated the series of protests, the underlying resistance to government suppression was much painful to the society. While the protests had the face of paper leaks, serious lapses in the social-political system were the foundations on which these protests took the form they took. The order to use pellet guns and guns brought in an element of total revulsion. The issue was so horrific that the ruling government’s major leaders, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister did not dare to attend Parliament’s recently concluded Monsoon Session. They kept hiding behind the make-believe façade of the Opposition not allowing a discussion in the House.

The protests had three vague poles, the Cockroaches, the Left- oriented youth and Congress-led protests. The outcome was miraculous, as the atmosphere of fear created by the regime, which has been best labelled as an ‘elected autocracy’, had snubbed the protests and criticism of government policy by labelling these anti- national etc. and using their might, as and when possible, by suppressing the voices of human rights activists.

Activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam being in jail for over six years without trial is a case study to reflect the state of human rights in the country. The arrests of activist-intellectuals in the Bhima Koregaon case is yet another reflection of the same. The institutional murder of Father Stan Swamy shows the nature of cruelty of the system.

After the Jantar Mantar protests, the pall of inhibition seems to have been lifted. Protests by what is called Gen-Alpha are spreading in various states. While ‘Godi Media’ remains the same, the social media-- Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook -- seem to have come up in their march toward acting as mirrors of the society.

The regime began by labelling the whole spectacle as being sponsored by “anti-national, terrorists” and all abuses that dictators proffer. The intensity of the spectacle was so strong that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, the parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), Bajrang Dal et al, changed its language and tried to uphold the protests. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, went to the extent of organising a meeting with 2,000 Gen-Zs and preached to them the virtues of democracy.

Interestingly, in this meeting someone asked him as to why RSS did not hoist the tricolour for 52 long years after Independence, but Bhagwat diverted the question by spinning the tale of some incident related to the Tricolour in the Indian Nation Congress convention, and wriggled out of the uncomfortable situation. Luckily there was no one in the audience to ask him as to why they burnt the effigy of Ambedkar.

Anyway, Bhagwat’s followers are celebrating the meeting as a great example of democracy. His followers are also saying that places where protests are controlled lead to ‘Grammer of Anarchy’ (protests which can upset the apple cart of the ruling dispensation). One recalls that so far, major protests against government policy have been suppressed or bypassed by the RSS progeny.

The farmer’s movement was totally ignored. During the year-long struggle, nearly 600 farmers lost their lives till the government was forced to withdraw the three farm laws for electoral reasons. The case of the Shaheen Bagh protests (against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA) is more painful, as those protests were ignored, demonsed and communal violence was orchestrated to bypass the protests. One also recalls that the JNU (Jawaharlala Nehru University) protests were suppressed, demonised (tukde tukde gang) and there were attempts to change the nature of the university, converting it into a Right-wing den.

As such, the ideology of RSS, of Hindu Rashtra, has no place for democratic ethos where dialogue with dissidents is the norm. It is something to be done in an unavoidable necessity, as seen in the case of Bhagwat’s attitude this time round. The very concept of nationalism in the name of religion is totally opposite to democratic ethos. The RSS had opposed the democratic Constitution right from beginning. Emerging from the feudal remnants of colonial society, it harps on hierarchy at all levels. While we have been identifying caste and gender hierarchy, the one at economic level is more manifest in the form of nakedly supporting crony capitalists and the upper layers of society during the past 12 years in particular. Expecting democratic ethos from such ideologies is totally wrong.

Can we expect democratic resistance and a change in the ruling dispensation from an autocratic one to democratic one, the one upholding Indian Constitution and the values of secularism, democracy and inclusive nationalism? It appears that at present the erosion of democratic institutions and restoration of democratic norms in the society is a big challenge that needs to be combated.

The protests that began from Jantar Mantar have gripped the whole country, as the basic problems of common people have been suppressed. While winds of fresh air are blowing, the deeper rot brought in by the Hindu nationalists runs much deeper.  The hate against Muslims and Christians has become fairly well rooted. The infiltration of RSS pracharaks (propagators) is very deep, as witnessed in the Election  Commission, Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, police and, of course, in our universities and teaching institutions. These can be undone, but a long process of rooting the Indian culture, which was developed e in our palimpsests, (according to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, standing for diverse layers living and interacting in peace) which reached an admirable peak during India's freedom movement, has been totally undermined by the 100 years of RSS work, which has penetrated far and wide, and is fairly deep.

It is a matter of great relief that the recent protests have led in dissipating the atmosphere of fear. It will certainly bind us Indians, the way the freedom movement did. The question that we face in the future is the restoration of political parties’ power, committed to the Indian Constitution. While appreciating the present atmosphere where one can breathe, hopefully, the challenge remains of combating the communal capture of the State.

The next step is a tough task, but crucial for restoring the ‘Idea of India’, which emerged during the freedom movement. One needs to salute the youth who have cracked into an inhibitory atmosphere, and also plan for the things to be done at electoral level. 


The author is a former Professor of Biomedical Engineering at IIT Bombay and writes on  political and social issues. The views expressed are personal.