Youth revolt is knocking — and india’s rulers are deaf

 The BJP now accuses Rahul Gandhi of trying to spark a “Gen Z revolution,” the kind that toppled governments in Nepal and Bangladesh. But here is the truth: revolutions are not created by politicians. They are born out of betrayal, out of suffocated voices, out of youth denied a future. And that is exactly what is happening in India.

India’s young are jobless in record numbers. Costs are spiralling. Institutions are hollowed out by political pressure. Yet the government struts like a monarchy. Its leaders treat themselves as untouchable, bending rules, subverting systems, and chasing grand projects that serve oligarchs, not ordinary citizens.

Worse, they silence every critic. Journalists are hauled off in handcuffs. Opposition leaders are smeared with endless cases. Citizens who protest are branded as threats to the nation. This is not democracy. It is a nervous regime mistaking repression for power.

History screams a warning. In 1975, Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency rule. The press was gagged, dissent jailed, democracy throttled. But she was blind to the storm building outside. The youth of India rose. Jayaprakash Narayan, the Loknayak, called on students to plunge into the struggle. They did. And when they did, the Emergency collapsed.

Today’s parallels are terrifying. Once again, rulers muzzle dissent. Once again, critics are criminalised. Once again, the young are pushed to the edge. And once again, the rulers are deaf to the danger.

Rahul Gandhi’s speeches do not create revolutions. Hunger does. Joblessness does. Injustice does. A silenced press does. Treating every critic as an enemy does. The youth of this country are restless, digitally connected, and politically alert. They see through the slogans of “vikas.” They see cronyism passed off as development. They know when democracy is being throttled by brute majorities and cynical propaganda.

The rulers can dismiss critics. They can jail journalists. They can even try to frighten students. But they cannot bury anger forever. They cannot keep youth chained to unemployment and indignity. The fire is already lit.

The Emergency did not end because Indira Gandhi relented. It ended because India’s people, led by its youth, said “enough.” That same energy brews today. If the government continues to behave like monarchs, it will summon the very revolt it most dreads.

Youth anger is not foreign. It is not an opposition conspiracy. It is homegrown, born of broken promises and betrayed trust. And when it erupts, no government — however powerful it thinks it is — can stand against it.

The lesson of history is brutal but simple: rulers who forget the limits of power are doomed. Indira Gandhi learnt it. Today’s leaders seem eager to repeat it.