Poonam Sharma
While looking at the ongoing protests around Jantar Mantar in India’s capital Delhi, one should also look at what is happening in France. In France, too, young people have been demonstrating in large numbers for improvements in the condition of schools. But, it is being said that what started as a movement over the education system has become so violent that protesters are damaging and burning the infrastructure, buildings, railroad stations, bus terminals and roads of their own country.
These scenes are pointing to a pattern that seems to be emerging in different parts of the world. Young people begin protesting over a particular issue. The protest then takes on a violent, political turn. There is widespread unrest and eventually attempts or calls to destabilize or bring down the government.
The protests in France started off as demands to improve schools, but reports say they have turned violent. Hence it may not be entirely surprising if some day similar scenes are witnessed in India. That is worthy of close examination.
The agitation here in India, called the “Cockroach Party” agitation, began with problems of the examination system, and has now touched upon problems of the electoral system. In other words, it has become an explicit political character.
Earlier, it was said that agitation was about question-paper leaks and had nothing to do with politics. But now the protests have become political and electoral.
In the earlier agitation these students were asking about how examinations should be conducted and how question-paper leaks could be prevented. And now they are asking about how elections should be run in the country.
But there are some key differences this time.
First, in past protests, the government had dropped some FIRs that police had filed against protestors due to pressure from students. The consequences of that decision, it is argued, can now be seen in the attitude of the protesters to the police.
Protesters openly argue with police personnel, making various allegations against them, recording videos of police officers and on several occasions openly refusing to follow police instructions.
One wonders if the withdrawal of those FIRs allayed the fear of police and legal action among the protesters?
The second major difference is social media and content creation.
A lot of YouTubers and social media creators got a lot of material for their content from the previous agitation. Many garnered hundreds of thousands of views and followers almost overnight. Then, some protesters themselves became viral sensations.
This created the illusion that you could kill two birds with one stone by participating in such demonstrations: you could protest but also create content and maybe go viral.
It also seemed at the time that the more provocative or offensive the language was, the more prominent the political leaders one insulted or the harsher the words were against the Prime Minister, the more attention and views their videos attracted. Jantar Mantar seemed to be turning into a competition for content creation.
If the earlier agitation was a learning experience, this time Jantar Mantar too seems to have become a huge studio for content creators. There are times when it seems like there is less protest and more content creation.
Cameras and mobile phones are ubiquitous. It’s got just about every ingredient for viral content — protests, provocative and offensive language, drama, allegedly sexually suggestive dancing, confrontations and pushing between police and young protesters. What better place for a YouTuber or a reel creator?
There’s action, conflict and drama. This is why Jantar Mantar seems to have become one of the biggest stages for reels and videos. Today, Jantar Mantar is a content studio.
Yet another question is why the Modi government is allowing such activities to continue at Jantar Mantar. “What is going on there can not be taken as a good sign.
Student protests in France seem to have become more violent, and there are fears that protests in India could one day follow suit.
