Every person who values democracy and human dignity in the country has reason to take pride in the courage and determination shown by India's youth, who successfully challenged the Modi government through non-violent means. The students deserve appreciation for their struggle. Over the past 12 years, several ministers in the Modi government have faced allegations of corruption, nepotism, communalism and hate speech. Although these controversies have triggered various protests, this is the first time that sustained public agitation has compelled the Sangh Parivar-led government to accept the resignation of a Union minister. The Modi government made every possible effort to protect Dharmendra Pradhan, a trusted RSS functionary accused of attempting to turn the education sector into a platform for communal ideology. The government relented only after realising that the agitation could escalate to a point where the Prime Minister himself would face demands to resign if Pradhan was not removed. Union ministers J.P. Nadda and Jitendra Singh, who held talks with leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), assured protesters that there would be no retaliatory action against them and that the cases registered in connection with the agitation would be withdrawn.
However, reports suggest action against participants began almost immediately after those assurances were given. Junaid, a resident of Uttar Pradesh who supplied food and drinking water to the protesters from the very first day of the protest at Jantar Mantar, became one of the first persons to face police action. As the agitation intensified, Uttar Pradesh Police detained his father and other relatives on multiple occasions. Delhi Police later took Junaid into custody for questioning. Even when the Supreme Court held that the action against the protesters was unjustified, such a ruling alone would not undo the harm caused by the police response. Although the protest was confined to Jantar Mantar, prohibitory measures were enforced several kilometres away in the Okhla–Jamia Nagar area. Police collected the personal details of students and young people who boarded metro trains from the area during the protests. Police used AI-enabled surveillance vans and smart glasses fitted with cameras to record images of young protesters, raising concerns about possible knock on their doors in retaliatory action against them. In states such as Assam, West Bengal and Bihar, where several student and youth movements have taken place, those arrested in connection with the NEET paper leak protests have not yet been released. The pattern of arrests reflects religious profiling by the police. Even in non-BJP ruled states like Kerala, ruled by Congress of Rahul Gandhi who was vocal in espousing the cause of the stirring students, cases have been registered against those who organised solidarity programmes, with no announcement so far regarding their withdrawal. Attempts are also underway to label the protest as being backed by foreign forces. While social media accounts of independent media outlets that carried detailed reports on the protest are being restricted, there appears to be little restraint on the circulation of AI-generated videos and images used to spread misinformation.
Even as Parliament was debating the excesses committed against the youth protesters, Delhi Police entered the CPI(M)'s national headquarters, AKG Bhavan, on Tuesday evening. Their aim was to arrest Aishe Ghosh, Joint Secretary of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union, who had strongly supported the CJP protest. The attempt was thwarted when CPI(M) leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, intervened, protesting that the officers were not in uniform, did not display name badges, and failed to state the reason for the arrest. If the police are now rushing to arrest Aishe Ghosh over a peaceful sit-in she led outside Bangla Bhavan in Delhi in 2021, one question demands an answer: what became of the investigation into the violent attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University on January 5, 2020, when masked Sangh Parivar activists entered the campus and unleashed violence? How many of those accused of assaulting Aishe Ghosh, who was the then JNUSU president and suffered a serious head injury during the attack, have been arrested so far? The current attempt to arrest her can be viewed as an act of retaliation, and leaders of other student organisations may soon face similar action. Junaid, who merely served food to protesters, is branded "anti-national," while Sangh Parivar ideologue in Kerala T.G. Mohandas, who made demeaning inflammatory remarks that given a chance he would have shot the protesters and that the women participating in the protest "liked rape," continues to be celebrated as a defender of nationalism. At a time when leaders of that brand are celebrated, such selective law enforcement may not be surprising, but the authorities must not sit complacent that the country will tolerate it.