Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday began his Mann ki Baat with a shout out to the youth, saying it’s good they question the system when it is not responsive, but even his political allies saw this as a platitude going by the arrest of five people in Tamil Nadu for anti-CAA street art.
Adopting the avuncular mode that marks his monthly radio broadcast, complete with a modulated voice, Modi spoke for about five minutes on the youth of India.
But he had not one word to say on the issue that is agitating them so much that they have been out on the streets for a fortnight, fighting for the Constitution and building a network of solidarity across the country and the world.
What the youth got instead was an essay on what he thought of them. He called them “millennials’’, “Generation Z’’ or “Gen Z’’.
“This generation is extremely talented. It thrives on the dream to do something new, something different. It has its own opinions. And the best part is, especially in the case of India, they appreciate the system,” the Prime Minister said.
“Not just that, they prefer to follow the system. And in the event of the system not responding properly, they get restless and even courageously question the system itself! I consider this attribute a virtue. One can even say with certitude here that the country’s youth detests anarchy of any sort.
“They despise any element of lack of governance and instability, abhorring any shades of nepotism, casteism, favouritism or gender discrimination. At an airport or a cinema theatre if someone tries to break a queue, the first to react vociferously are these young people.
“The youth present make a video of it on their mobile phones, which goes viral within no time! And the culprit instantly realises the mistake. Thus, our new generation is an embodiment — a reflection — of a new system, a new order, a new age, a new thought.’’
The Prime Minister also had a word of appreciation for the tenacity of women.
Only, again, he was not referring to the women who have become the torchbearers of the struggle against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens almost as the first line of defence for the Constitution.
The Prime Minister was focused on the women of Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh who “have inspired the entire region with their tenacity’’ by aligning with a self-help group to learn how to make slippers for income generation.
“These women have proved that if a resolution is taken with the true spirit of solidarity, nothing can stop conditions changing for the better,’’ he said.
But he had not a word of solace for the women sitting in protest for a fortnight at Shaheen Bagh despite the government’s slogan of “Sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas (support and development for all, trust of all)”.Modi invoked Mahatma Gandhi’s Swadeshi movement to urge people to buy Indian-made products for “at least two-three years”. But he did not mention his Satyagraha or non-violent resistance, which the women of Shaheen Bagh and youths across the country have taken inspiration from.
