The reframing of the political narrative by Gen Z at Jantar Mantar

“All is well.” The line from Three Idiots became an anthem of optimism for an entire generation. The film portrayed the story of three friends trying to break free from the rigid expectations imposed by India’s education system.

Aamir Khan played Rancho, whose real identity in the film was Phunsukh Wangdu, an engineer and innovator living in Ladakh. The character was widely believed to have been inspired by innovator-turned-activist Sonam Wangchuk, who later emerged as the face of the anti-paper leak protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

Ironically, the protest site represented the exact inversion of the film’s celebrated refrain. Students and young people from diverse social and economic backgrounds gathered to send a simple message: all was not well.

Their objective was not merely to force the government to acknowledge their concerns over recurring examination paper leaks, but also to assert that their individual stories mattered and deserved to be heard.

If the government was the protesters’ primary target, a section of the mainstream media became the second. Reporters from television channels were booed and heckled for promoting what the protesters saw as a biased narrative.

For much of the BJP’s time in office, critics have accused sections of television news of amplifying the government’s narrative while portraying the Opposition as responsible for nearly every national setback. At Jantar Mantar, that criticism found its most visible expression. Posters of several television anchors were displayed, with some protesters branding them “anti-national”, a label that has frequently been used in India’s political discourse against the government’s critics.

What made the scenes at Jantar Mantar particularly noteworthy was that this sentiment was being articulated by Gen Z, a generation often perceived as politically detached. Their rejection of sections of the mainstream media ought to prompt introspection within news organisations.

The protests acquired a sharper political edge after the police action on July 20, involving personnel of the Rapid Action Force and the Delhi Police. Images of students being dragged away and allegations of excessive use of force transformed what began as a movement against paper leaks into a broader expression of youth anxiety about fairness, opportunity and accountability.

“The people of the country have started claiming their country back from those who have tried to destroy the Constitution, from those who have tried everything to suppress and oppress the voice of the people,” Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said.

Whether or not one agrees with such a political characterisation, the protests acquired a significance well beyond education reform.

Successive electoral victories have given the BJP an aura of political invincibility, encouraging many of its supporters to ridicule the Opposition with ease. But the government quickly recognised the changing mood, opened channels of communication with the leaders of the protest, and signalled that it was willing to engage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself reached out to young people through video messages on Instagram, the social media platform most widely used by Gen Z.

The immediate protests may have ended, but the larger political challenge remains. The BJP’s task is not merely to resolve the issue of paper leaks. It is to regain the trust of Gen Z, a demographic that has played a crucial role in propelling the party to power.

Whether the Jantar Mantar protests mark a temporary moment of disillusionment or the beginning of a deeper political shift is a question that will outlast the protests.