“Oh dear,” I whispered as the news came in, “the antinationals have won!”
A gentleman sitting beside me nearly dropped his teacup. “Which border have they crossed?” he asked. “Should I hide under the bed? Should I forward patriotic messages on WhatsApp?”
“No,” I said. “It is much worse. The government has accepted the demands of the protesting youth!”
He stared at me. “But weren’t those youngsters called troublemakers, cockroaches, urban Naxalites and antinationals?”
“Exactly,” I replied as I marched to the window and shook my fist in the direction of Delhi, “It means the government has surrendered to the enemy!”
“Surrendered to the enemy who laid siege to those brave rulers in Jantar Mantar?” he asked trembling with fear.
I don’t blame my imaginary gentleman his fear. Because, oh what a confusing country we have become.
A student asks why examination papers are leaking and he becomes an antinational. A journalist asks who leaked them and she becomes an urban Naxalite. A parent asks why his child studied night and day while somebody else bought the answers, and immediately a television panel assembles to investigate whether the parent secretly hates India.
But now the government has accepted the students’ demands, promised reforms and watched the education minister resign.
So, who was working against the nation?
Could it possibly be those in power, who allowed the examination system to become a marketplace?
Could it be those who protected their chairs while students lost years, hopes and sometimes their lives?
Could it be those who treated questions as rebellion and accountability as treason?
My frightened friend leaned closer. “Then who is the actual Pappu?”
I looked around carefully. “Perhaps Pappu was never sitting in the Opposition. Perhaps Pappu is the one sitting on a throne, imagining that democracy meant everybody clapping while he spoke.”
The real fool in a democracy is not the person who asks questions. It is the leader who believes questions can be silenced with barricades, batons, internet shutdowns and colourful labels.
It is the politician who thinks an elected chair has suddenly transformed into a divine throne.
It is the party that believes buying, bribing or blackmailing opposing representatives is clever politics and not an assault on the people’s vote.
The youth have shown us something extraordinary. Armour that looked impenetrable has cracked. Arrogance that appeared permanent has blinked. Power that pretended never to listen has heard.
But this victory cannot belong only to the young. They have made the first opening. The rest of us, who have been branded antinationals, by the antinationals, must now walk through it.
We must question every paper leak, every stolen mandate, every silenced journalist and every attempt to divide citizens into patriots and traitors.
Yes, the so called antinationals have won.
And democracy, smiling quietly behind them, whispers, “March on dear Antinationals..!”
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Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.
Yes a victory! A long long way to go and the climb will get steeper.
A small step in the right direction !!! the hard part is to sustain the momentum across govt departments
Every antinationalist is just a nationalist who loves his country but disagrees with the govt. So their actually anti govt opinion which is the personal opinion of the party that is governing and feels that they are the rulers and hence can do whatever pleases them.
What the Government hasn’t realised is that by their brutality on the General Z protestors, their parents who have watched this in the media, will never vote for this party again.
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It is so interesting to read Bob’s musings today because he always manages to make things look so simple and sweet. But are they? The protest at Jantar Mantar launched by the Cockroach Janta Party against NEET exam paper leak with Sonam Wangchuk going on fast started way AFTER the postponed exam was already over. So the actual issue had already been dealt with swiftly. But then NEET was just a handle, the real objective was always to try and dethrone the BJP govt. à la Nepal and Bangladesh style.
The protest was NOT spearheaded by NEET students as is being implied, but by politicians or political wannabees like Abhishek Dipké and gang. Interesting that throughout the entire long Dharna, NOT ONE NEET student addressed the gathering. In fact for the first few days until Wangchuk arrived there were not more than a few hundred people at Jantar Mantar. Mostly onlookers and journos. The govt. accepted Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation to bring an end to an agitation that had turned violent and was manned, funded and fuelled by political parties and anti India forces. Does anyone believe that youngsters in their teens, focussed on careers were arriving for the march on parliament with backpack filled with stones to hurl at the police?
A lot is talked about police brutality, but if they are really such bad people how come the protest at Jantar Mantar was allowed to carry on for 18 days when the permission was for only ONE day? Why did the lathi charge not take place on the second day itself? The police has clearly given the crowd adequate advance notice to break up the protest and go home. Parliament was to start it’s monsoon session and the CJP was NOT given permission to march on parliament. Only when the march turned violent, broke through the outer perimeter barricades around parliament that the police went in to action. A dispassionate look at the ENTIRE footage ( not just the edited shorts on Instagram )will show that dozens of individual policemen were isolated and mercilessly beaten buy the mob. How does this relate to the idea of a peaceful student’s march ?
I wonder how many saw the hundreds , nay thousands , of food packets and 500 PIZZAs arriving on the scene and the delivery boys not knowing what to do with them. Apparently the food was being ordered by people in Qatar and Dubai. Who are these people and what is their interest in fomenting such an uprising in India? It is well known that George Soros has committed a Billion US $s to overthrow Modi’s govt. ISI and the CIA are also interested parties. The Jamaat E Islami in Bangladesh had offered to send volunteers to join the “fight”. And who did Mr. Wangchuk meet in Switzerland before returning to India and going on a hunger strike? At whose behest ?
Did any of you wonder what slogans to release Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid had anything to do with NEET ? Or for that matter Arundhati who questions the very existence of Kashmir as a part of India? What was the connection between the LGBTQ brigade flaunting their bodies and their banners and the NEET exam paper leak? Or people hurling choice filthy abuses at Modi, Amit Shah and Hindu Gods and Goddesses?
Every one is welcome to celebrate what looks like a victory for the students. But PLEASE do not be carried away by sentiment or hype and miss out on the real reasons for the violent demonstrations in Delhi and elsewhere. If at all, the students and others should have asked for the resignation of the head of the National Testing Agency who actually carry out the tests. Pradhan as Ed. minister and the Modi Govt only make policy, the actual execution is left to the bureaucrats. So the protestors should have asked for the resignation of Abhishek Singh, head of NTA. But as I said earlier , NEET and the GenZ were just playthings in the hands of forces with other agendas, to be used and thrown away – just the way it happened in Iran, the Arab Spring and Bangladesh. The Ayatollahs took over the student protests that ousted the Shah. In Bangladesh the Jamaat E Islami took over after sidelining the students. .
Dharmendra Pradhan is the FIRST education minister in BJP who had the B…s to actually change the syllabus of the 9th – 12th standard history books. Indian heroes like Shivaji and Rana Pratap have been given their rightful place, not just a few lines tucked away somewhere. An entire chapter on the 1975 – 76 Emergency has been introduced, to make our youth aware of the kind of dangers that our democracy faces. And if anyone wondered why a whole flock of White Cassock Clad Padrés also joined the march it is because of the new FCRA rules that demands that organisations that receive funds from abroad MUST declare where the funds are coming from and how they will be used. Also a curb on using such funds for Conversion rallies is also I believe a singular pain-point for such organisations.
So in conclusion , if any one still thinks of the recent events as a “Student Protest’ then you are blissfully unaware of the real forces at play in our country. The objective was to disrupt Parliament and create a state of chaos aimed at regime change. Just stating it as I see it. No offence meant to any one.
Worth looking at :
https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/delhi/story/neet-protest-delhi-police-report-989-people-jantar-mantar-criminal-antecedents-2957385-2026-07-27?utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=promotion&utm_source=izooto
Some commentators point out to the hidden forces or other elements behind the protest. Well, to point out the ‘wrongs’ in the protest is to miss the forest for the trees. A voice has to be raised against any kind of corruption.
If the the CJP did not have right intention, it would not have succeeded.
Any mass movement can have its flaws. But let us look at the big picture.
In a situation where every department is floundering behind ‘selfish, corrupt, fascist, dictatorial, regime of few individuals, the head that manages that system has to be targeted. Mussolini, Hitler must be stopped before it’s too late.
Someone well pointed out, changing the ‘chaddis’ doesn’t stop the diarrhea! Right measures have to be taken to cure diarrhea, before diarrhea weakens the person so much that he wouldn’t know what is good health.
In Nepal and Bangladesh, the GenZ spoke the language the government would understand. Here the CJP was successful in conducting a very peaceful March. The fringe violence took place because of the ‘goondas’ who wanted to obstruct the peaceful protest. Perhaps the ‘goondas’ were in police uniform too.
A mob cannot be rational. It can go bizarre if the right aims are not met at the right time.
What’s wrong if right minded people sent food packages from within the country or without. Humanitarian needs must be met. And thanks be to God such people exist. And to label them as ‘anti-government, is to question every right intention. Can a movement like this protest cannot proceed with one intention at a time?
The question is not whether the protest was right or wrong but whether the government is right in its action. Like Aristotle who defined State said, the State exists for its citizens not only to live, but live WELL.
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Bravo Gen Z ! Take a Bow 🙇♀️
Well said jagaroyan david
A good retort to the bull sheet of Pankaj
Truly impressed with mr Das the spokesman of the cjp
Several mothers have commented that they would like to have a son like him
Proud of him
Young people like him can even be the prime minister of India
I rate him higher than Rahul Gandhi
Some stupids are asking if not Modi who else …. Really ? Nobody there
Cm of tn Vijay can do better than Modi
Just my opinion