On 20 July, Raisina Hill — the sleeping Goliath — was awakened by thousands of ‘cockroaches’ thumping the monster’s chest, demanding a hearing. This extraordinary upsurge of civil protest in Delhi has a lineage of Gen Z uprisings in Hong Kong (2019), Sri Lanka (2022), Kenya and Bangladesh (2024), Nepal, Madagascar and Morocco (2025).

A mix of rage at failing economies, joblessness, institutional betrayal, administrative corruption, the helplessness of being mute spectators of a live-streamed genocide and much more is feeding into the disillusionment of the youth. Social/digital media is mobilising them at a speed unprecedented in human history. Witnessing their outpouring makes one want to uphold their resistance as proof of human resilience.

While some commentators see the CJP, which initiated the protests at Jantar Mantar, as a ragtag bunch of political newbies without an ideological core, as amateurs still figuring their way and some others find their early moves self-serving, the sheer energy of the mobilisation on the day was jaw-dropping.

The demographic could hardly be more diverse: college and school students, professionals, the unemployed, the low employed, parents, teachers, artists, activists, social media influencers, celebrities, political leaders — they were all there. Many turned up to simply express solidarity with the young protestors who had dared to take on an arrogant establishment.

This motley crowd had people from the Left and Right and all stripes of the political Centre, it had disillusioned BJP votaries and Islamophobes, a........

© National Herald