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Modi's predicament: Gen Z pours out on India's streets as dissent surges
Despite tens of thousands of security personnel deployed to stop them, youth protesters in India scaled barricades last week, chanted anti-government slogans and scuffled with police officers trying to drag them away.
“Long live the revolution,” shouted one young man before police bundled him into a bus.
Street protests in India this year are likely to be higher than at any time in the past decade, the independent Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) Project has said, as dissent mounts against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and Gen Z activists pour on to the streets.
Analysts say the youth protests, and growing support for the opposition, form the worst crisis for Modi since he came to power in 2014, with people under 30 making up nearly one quarter of the country’s 1 billion voters. But his government remains stable and the next general election is not due until 2029.
Demonstrators push against a police barricade during a protest demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi, India on October 3, 2026. —Reuters/File
“The nation has suddenly found its voice,” said Yogendra Yadav, an anti-government activist who has played a leading part in the demonstrations.
“I would not say this is the beginning of the end of the Modi regime, but this definitely is the beginning of a downward spiral.”
The government and Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party declined comment for this story.
The recent protests in the capital Delhi and elsewhere were focused on demands that Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar resign over a voter roll revision that activists and opposition parties say favours the BJP and has helped it win several recent state elections.
The ruling BJP, the government and the Election Commission deny the accusations. The BJP says the party’s wins have come from Modi’s popularity and strong economic growth.
But the demonstrations are also reflecting something larger: growing anger at Modi for failing to deliver jobs to millions of unemployed youth in his 12 years in power despite the surge in headline economic growth.
Other issues have also fed into the anti-establishment mood, including leaks of question papers in key examinations for jobs and education, the high number of crimes against women and the rise of billionaire businessmen alleged to have close links to Modi.
Modi has a strongman image and his government has previously cracked down on pockets of dissent harshly, but that hasn’t fazed the youngsters on the streets.
“The fear in us is gone,” said Ananya Raturi, a 21-year-old Delhi University student who was part of massive protests in the capital on Saturday.
Speaking after she clung to the windscreen wipers of a bus that police were using to detain protesters, Raturi said: “We don’t fear being detained or beaten up by the police. This generation enjoys it.”
Ananya Raturi, 21, reacts as she tries to stop the police bus carrying detained protesters during a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), seeking the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi, India on October 10, 2026. —Reuters/File
Police have denied allegations that they beat up people at the demonstrations, saying protesters were handled according to prescribed procedures.
The rise of the cockroaches
The protests have been energised by the emergence of the first nationally resonant youth-led movement of the Modi era, the Cockroach Janta Party, which grew from online satire into a nationwide campaign this June after India’s chief justice likened the unemployed to “cockroaches”.
India’s mainstream media is mostly pro-government, critics say, and has covered the protests sparingly. But thousands of protesters armed with mobile phones as well as independent news channels on YouTube have amplified the unrest and made Internet stars of leaders like CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and firebrand left-wing activist Neha Bora.
Opposition parties that were subdued under Modi’s grip on power have been re-energised, with Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi and tens of thousands of followers also on the streets.
Supporters of opposition parties join in a protest march to the Supreme Court to protest a controversial revision of voter lists that has sparked days of unrest, in New Delhi, India on October 12, 2026. —Reuters/File
The unrest has drawn comparisons with neighbouring Bangladesh and Nepal, where youth-led protest movements brought down governments in recent years, although analysts caution that India’s political landscape and Modi’s popularity make such parallels imperfect.
Many of the youth protesters grew up during Modi’s rise to power, buoyed by promises of jobs, opportunity and cleaner governance. A decade later, many say those aspirations remain unfulfilled and they say the Hindu nationalist government appears more focused on religious issues and divisive politics against minorities, especially Muslims.
Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), looks on during a protest seeking the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi, India on October 11, 2026. —Reuters/File
The government has previously said the economy generated 168.3 million new jobs in the six years through 2024. Modi has repeatedly rejected allegations of any bias, saying his government works for all Indians.
30-year-old Gauri Seth, a medical student based in Kolkata, became a voter in 2014, the same year the Modi government came to power.
Seth said the Modi government promised “a lot, but has failed to deliver.” “Instead they focus on things like religious infrastructure. There are cases of violence against minorities. When anyone speaks against them, it is labelled as treason or sedition.”
It’s mostly about jobs
When Modi came to power, he promised the creation of millions of jobs each year. Yet, despite India’s strong economic growth since then, unemployment remains at slightly above five per cent, according to government data.
A Reuters poll last year said that data masks the severity of joblessness, especially among the youth. Unemployment among the 367 million people in the country aged 15-29 stood at 9.9pc in 2025, according to the data.
Research by Azim Premji University’s State of Working India 2026 report found unemployment among graduates aged 15-25 was nearly 40pc, while about one in five graduates aged 25-29 remained jobless.
In May, unrest erupted across the country when the government invalidated examinations for national medical colleges, a pathway to jobs for the poor and the middle class, after test papers were leaked.
Rubby Singh, a 30-year-old social activist in Delhi, said repeated examination paper leaks had deepened a sense among young Indians that the system was denying them opportunities even after years of study.
Neha Bora, National President of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), reacts as she is detained by police during a protest against alleged assault on female protestors and journalists by Delhi Police and demanding resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India on October 4, 2026. —Reuters/File
“This generation has been facing the brunt of not having proper education, which leads to not being able to get good opportunities,” she said.
While national elections are not due for almost three years, the country’s biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, goes to the polls early next year, which could provide a test of Modi’s popularity.
Analysts however remain cautious about the outcome.
The BJP may not be as strong as it was a few months ago, said Rahul Verma, a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
“But whether there are going to be electoral implications, it is too early to say.”
Header image: Police personnel exchange words with protesters near a barricade during a demonstration by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) demanding the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, in Patna, India on October 13, 2026. —Reuters/File
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