god save the king!

“हमारी मांग यह है कि, हमारी मांगो को सुना जाये।”

Translation: Our demand is that our demands should be heard.

This was said by a random protestor, no foreign “funding”, no ill motive, no affiliation to any political party, just out of concern for a democracy who we were taught to love at an age where we didn’t know any better.

First impressions last long, and my first impression of democracy was in my Class 8th civics book. It was the preamble of the constitution. We the People of India, having solemnly resolved to make India a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic.

As an impressionable kid that thought of collective identity instilled pride and faith in a better future for me. Afterall, we live in a great nation with such great ideals. But I have been betrayed since then. All of us have been betrayed since then.

Justice? A mere joke where the chief justice would focus more on prosecuting comedians rather than the ones who beat children up.

Liberty? What value does it hold when I can see personal narratives being pushed upon the largest student led protest. Where is the liberty when my beliefs are held higher than the others’ and my faith is used to cause wars of false theistic beliefs?

Equality? Where does it go when the government has to take in the opposing viewpoints in the crowd of people?

Fraternity? I don’t even know how that is supposed to work. If we are assuring the dignity of the individual then why do we claim the protestors to be “terrorists?” If we swear by the unity and integrity of the nation, then why were we apathetic to the movement’s cause ever since Sonam’s hunger strike began?

Since July 19th 2026 and the abduction of Sonam Wangchuk, the “Cockroach” moniker given to the protesters has seen a resurgence among the ruling class perhaps. The authorities trap the citizens like cockroaches inside the barriers in Jantar Mantar, force them into stampede-esque scenarios and then crush them with their sticks akin to how we treat pests. Funny because this is what we have come to, these are the levels that the ruling class would steep to just for them to crush dissent and establish control. You pretend to be flawless, you pretend to have the best country and the best administration, why do questions scare you? Why are you afraid to face your own citizens?

This “fear” of accountability is what the current generation (of which I am proudly a part of) detests the most. You are in a democracy, you are bound to answer to the people and that is a just ask.

The movement has moved the Gen-Z which was deemed as an “Online Only” generation out into the streets asking for needs and demands to be met. But they ask it to a stone wall, that has not answered anything except when big money and huge corporations knock at the door. The Indian Government does not care about its people. You might be keen on believing in the fact that they do, but I can assure you, the government that leaves a state like Manipur burning since so long, or the government that cuts forests down to build factories and Data Centers would never bat an eye if twenty-two children committed suicide. They simply never care, and we put them in a position for them to stop caring about the citizens because they think we are easily manipulated. One new thing arrives, then our wholehearted attention is diverted towards that.

But this time it is different. This movement has positioned itself as something that will never be forgotten. This movement has become the biggest demonstration of solidarity with the victims of the horrible education system.

Even if they’re hit with laathis, barraged with tear gas and drenched in water by the canons, the students still move forward and that is the resilience of people who are absolutely done with the system. There are no “sides” to this discourse anymore, you either do your job, fight the system and see the revolution or you sit silent and you are complacent to the government’s agenda and propaganda.

But I find it a bit weird and saddening that this “Assassination” of India is also being carried out by the same people I got my own education with. They also read the same 8th Grade Civics books with me, they also studied alongside me, ate with me and walked the same roads to school as me. Then why do I stand for the protest, in solidarity with the movement and critique the government, whereas they are out there in full support of police brutality, calling protestors as some B-Team of terrorist organizations. How do they believe the media which I call as sellouts and yearn to go and beat people up, beat innocent students up in this protest. There lies my greatest confusion, where did it all go wrong?

We were all taught to be tolerant with each other, we were taught to obey Gandhian ideals of non-violence or many other such things, but why are the same people who learnt those things with me together lack any sense inside of them? How are the also part of the collective apathy that Sonam Wangchuk faced before he was kidnapped from the protest in broad daylight?

It doesn’t sit well with me, it confuses me and it enrages me. But there also lies my answer, anti-intellectualism. The state machinery brands questions as “Anti-National”. Dharmendra Pradhan can be quoted as saying that all these protestors and terrorist organizations masquerading as “Students”. Any valid critique to paper leaks or anything in general is left as something Anti-National, and that’s what people start to believe. They are gullible and they do not have their own free will, that is also another outcome of the flawed Indian Education System that the protest is against. This education system seldom makes people who are an actual person, it rather focuses more on making the human into a cogwheel in the whole machine so that they can just be doing the same thing forever. And under Pradhan’s rule on education, paper leaks are commonplace, who knows, further down the line the humans that come out of this education system would be no better than someone who was never a part of it.

This exact education system claims lives of thousands, thousands of students who just dared to dream in a regime that was built on crushing whatever they wanted to stand for. The state machinery and its propaganda wing ready with calling you an anti-national woke terrorist if you dare raise a voice against it. Because ofcourse, we have never learnt how to dissent ever since we were kids. “Don’t Raise your voice to elders”, “Don’t refute with anything they say” and “The Government will never wish to hurt you”.

Naturally, the state machinery would panic when they see dissent of this level occurring and there is no way to stop it. Because honestly, they’ve tried everything. Called us terrorists, Anti-Nationals, Foreign Funded, CIA agents, Chinese Agents, Pakistanis and much much more. But this generation won’t budge. We know that nobody in the parliament cares for the common person. Not even the opposition. Everyone is just at each other’s neck for more power and control over the throne of India. Because we are not a democracy anymore, we are an electoral autocracy where the “ruling class” are always superior. Do you think any of the parties in the parliament would be not doing the same things as the BJP government does right now in India? When you leave some party with this much unchecked power, this is what happens, this is where they are. But something is different this time around while we are protesting. The government is scared of us now, more than it ever was, it is using propaganda and force to resist us. This exact thing has happened before. And we all know how we got out of it 1947. We will do it again.

They say we beat up the policemen, we threw rocks at them and we were unruly. But even if some anti-social elements did that as you claim, what gave you the right to hit kids and elderly people? who gave you the right to use such massive force on this scale against ordinary citizens? who gave you the orders to harass women in broad daylight? these are some of the questions I’d like to ask people who are still defending the police even if the injustices done by them is clearly visible.

The fire of rebellion burns ever so strong. More than ever now. The blood of everyone who ever thought of bringing forth revolution in the nation flows through us now. I sincerely thank the ruling class for calling us, the students to be some weird CIA/Militant/Opposition led ploy to dethrone the ones who never do anything bad (despite the probable thousands of rape cases filed against them). Because of them calling us that, we are never bowing down, we are never going down and we will always stand up with our heads held high. They have labelled us exactly what the Brits labeled Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad and many others like them.

We are strong, We are strong together and If we keep on going like this, we might topple the ego of this fascist regime.

Here I remember an Odia Poem, my mother tongue, written by Utkala Mani Gopabandhu Das, it goes as follows.

Translation:

May I be reduced to dust on my Homeland,

So that my fellow countrymen may tread upon me as they march ahead.

For my country’s path to Swaraj if need be of a sacrifice,

Let my very flesh and bones become part of this path.

Inquilab Zindabad.

artwork by @/desiartworksagainstfascism & @/moteworks on Instagram