Visuals of the recent happenings in the heart of Delhi left people hopeful, disgusted and bemused, in equal measure. On the one hand, we saw young men and women in their teens and twenties facing up to lathi-wielding policemen, making their point firmly and politely, a sure sign that Gen Z had come of age; on the other hand, we saw smartly-dressed young girls berating the PM and other such dignitaries in vile words which would make a deckhand blush.

The fact that the movement ultimately succeeded, and still the leaders did not try to mint political capital, but confined themselves to their original issues, gives hope that  education will receive the priority it deserves, from all political parties. Social media, which was used to mobilise youth from India and even abroad, gave minute-to-minute accounts of the protest, thwarting all attempts at misinformation, and unquestionably, emerged as the real hero of the protest. Except for some few ‘committed’ channels and newspapers, most media outlets gave a fair coverage to the agitators, which again is a cause of hope ~ the media is not as sold out, as it has been made out to be.

Policing reform may also follow; the public was left aghast by visuals of police hitting unarmed, peaceful protestors with lathis, and some police personnel firing pellet guns, and using electric shock batons, against them. One policeman, in Bihar, even let loose a volley of AK-47 bullets on protestors. Rightly has the Supreme Court stepped in, to curb the tendency of the police to use disproportionate force, against agitators.

A notable failure, was of the usual counter-narrative of Government sympathisers, branding agitators and their supporters as anti-nationals, Chinese/Pakistani agent provocateurs, funded by CIA/George Soros. However, barring theatrics, the lasting impression was that of a deep sense of despair and frustration in the minds of the young.

The young women spewing profanities, and the young men who came to Jantar Mantar from afar, sustaining themselves on peanuts and roasted gram, all wanted a platform to express their discontent. Listening to the many interviews of protestors aired on social media one gets the impression that the  Education Minister was on the protestors’ target, because he rode roughshod over the students’ feelings; almost no one expected any basic change in the education system even after change of the incumbent.

In the words of the present Defence Minister, this was a Government in which no........

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