Politics has a curious habit of rewarding those who move last, provided they move decisively. It is not always the first actor who shapes history, but more often the one who successfully rewrites the story after everyone else has finished speaking. The events of the past few weeks suggest that the BJP may have done precisely that. What seemingly began as a spontaneous nationwide outpouring of anger over examination irregularities looked, for a brief moment, as though it possessed the rare quality that every government dreads. It was becoming larger than its organisers. Students who had never heard of one another were rallying around a common grievance, and social media was amplifying their outrage at a speed that political parties could neither manufacture nor entirely control. More importantly, the movement had begun to attract the attention of the opposition, which sensed that this might become one of those defining moments when public frustration could be converted into sustained political pressure. Then, almost overnight, the atmosphere changed. Sonam Wangchuk, who had sustained a fast for weeks, almost conveniently chose to end it just as Parliament assembled. And the symbolism was impossible to ignore. After holding out through the most difficult phase, the fast ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, without the movement’s headline demands having been fully realised. The image of Wangchuk accepting lime juice from BJP president J.P. Nadda was politically more consequential than the act itself. Politics often lives in photographs long after facts have been forgotten. Around the same time, the Prime Minister appeared in a pair of unusually informal selfie-style videos speaking about examinations, students and aspirations. Whatever one thought of the presentation, the messaging was unmistakable. The government had entered damage control mode. Then came the decisive blow. Institutional action followed. The education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, resigned, and senior officials........

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