A whiff of fresh air is blowing through the country. For the first time in twelve years, it seems as though the sense of fearlessness shown by Gen Z has helped galvanise the nation and renewed our faith in our democratic traditions. It reminded me of those heady days when the Emergency was lifted in 1977 and lakhs of people in Delhi spent hours walking to the Ramlila Grounds to hear leaders, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Morarji Desai, speak out against the autocratic rule of Indira Gandhi.

I have often wondered how a Chief Justice could make such an off-the-cuff remark, describing young activists as ‘cockroaches’ and ‘parasites of society’. The word seems to have gained universal acceptance since we now have a Cockroach Janta Party, whose nuances and influence are being discussed across the globe.

It is obvious that the ruling elite has forgotten the fate of millions of young people who seem doomed to live under a growing spiral of unemployment. There is no other explanation for how millions of young people could come together in a matter of weeks to join a party with as weird a name as CJP. The sense of angst was so intense amongst them that they were willing to brave intense heat, tear gas, police lathis, and, as it turned out, even pellet guns to make their voices heard. Their demand: the Modi government take responsibility for all that was going wrong. Successive paper leaks were just part of the problem. The real issue was that the entire educational system was being overhauled without first putting in place........

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