By Imkong Walling
India was just witness to a youth-student-led protest like never before. It resulted in a star Minister resigning from the deified Narendra Modi Cabinet, under fire for a notorious mishandling of an examination paper leak.
The Minister in question, Dharmendra Pradhan’s claim to Modi’s pantheon came from student activism as a prominent figure of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a high point of which was leading a protest over a high school question paper leak. It was like life coming full circle for the Minister, completing with an ironic twist of fate.
Even as Pradhan resigned under intense pressure; in Nagaland, the Higher Education Minister, Temjen Imna Along, the BJP’s ‘chulbul’ soft power in the north-east, was quick to heap glowing but empty praises to his beleaguered senior colleague.
This mechanical political servitude is evocative of the reluctance to admit absent accountability in public offices. Pradhan unwillingly stepping aside appeared like a moral victory, a just movement prevailing over state self-indulgence. It does not end there, however, as replacing the head of a Ministry without affecting long-term overhaul would be equivalent to giving lip-stick treatment to roads in Nagaland. The clichéd “old wine in a new bottle” rings utterly true, with The Times of India capturing it succinctly— ‘GenZ forces DP change,’ a veiled reference to the Minister’s initials and a digital-age term for Display Picture.
It could be that no other public display of agitation was ever documented or recorded like the CJP protest, a social media phenomenon that went on to capture the imagination of people across the length and breadth of the country. Yet there was something amiss— an unmissable air of detachment from pop culture icons, among others, that the youth idolise.
Bollywood and its leading thespians, ever eager to promote films or brands, and pandering to the ruling regime, remained largely silent. Figures like Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi were a few exceptions. Sporting icons went largely mute. Sachin Tendulkar posted but beat around the bush, avoiding the real problem, while Salman Khan initially posted a supportive statement, only to tone down following an address from the Prime Minister regarding the protests. In an age when youthful independence is the catchphrase, the Bhai of tinsel town urged students to let their parents worry for them.
The detachment was quite conspicuous in Nagaland, as well; a place where a supposedly robust culture of dissent exists.
There is a ‘but’ here.
The public gets emotionally involved when it concerns government jobs, reservation or elections. There is anger when “our” jobs are taken. When it comes to broader institutional accountability, there is little to no interest.
Perhaps the perceived aloofness could be because protest in Nagaland has historically been tied to protecting land, identity and jobs. While reasonable, escaping from questions of transparency and accountability in governance is not going to help alleviate the circumstance.
A paper leak in Delhi or a scam in a Union Ministry feels too distant to merit close attention. But a Naga student sitting for NEET or any central exam is affected by the same leak. Choosing escapism in the midst of systemic desolation has its perks. The detachment comes with a heavy cost, however.
The writer is a Principal Correspondent at The Morung Express. Comments can be sent to imkongwalls@gmail.com
