Lived reality always finds a way to catch up with political rhetoric. In February 2021, Myanmar’s youth protested a military coup that eventually became a grinding civil war. In March 2022, former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa felt the force of gravity when power cuts and fuel shortages triggered mass protests.

In May 2023, the Pakistani army faced its most severe test when mounting economic discontent and the jailing of former prime minister (PM) Imran Khan led to anti-establishment protests. In July 2024, former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina faced reality in the form of a student-led uprising. In September 2025, Nepal’s Gen-Z decided to put an end to the excruciating decade- long saga of prime ministerial musical chairs in Kathmandu. In July 2026, India’s Gen-Z showed its government the limits of a rising power’s jobless growth and eroding structures of public accountability.

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In essence, aspirational but disillusioned youth is reshaping the historical arch of a subcontinent that accounts for one-quarter of humanity.

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)’s protest, with support from education activist Sonam Wangchuk’s 26-day hunger strike, that led to the resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to account for the leak of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) question paper, drew comparisons with the youth-led protests in the neighbourhood.

The visuals of young people standing up to the might of the State to express the frustration that comes from the gulf between the haves and the........

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