Can PM Modi reconnect with India's Gen Z?
Student protests exposed a growing disconnect between PM Narendra Modi's BJP and young Indians. Experts say reels alone won't close it. As students filled India's
Student protests exposed a growing disconnect between PM Narendra Modi's BJP and young Indians. Experts say reels alone won't close it. As students filled India's streets to demand accountability from the government, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed to have realized that he needed to connect more effectively with the country's youth. Modi posted on Instagram a rare selfie video in which he said he was pained by their suffering and promised remedial steps. But it was not enough to satisfy the protesters' concerns, and five Gen Z-style reels later, that gap seems as wide as ever. "We ain't friends," one comment under the first reel read. It echoed thousands of others reacting to a midnight video drop from the PM. In one of Modi's lesser-produced videos, he addressed the youth as "friends" before finally speaking about the exam at the center of the protests. It was the prime minister’s response to the biggest political crisis he has faced in his third term so far over a cancelled high-stakes medical entrance exam which affected millions of aspirants. Since the first video, he's improved camera angles and lighting, tried varied backgrounds, and even started and ended the videos himself like a one-man content creator. The response remains tepid. For Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the protests came at the peak of its power, but the unrest has dented that shine, and the disconnect with the youth is substantial, experts told DW. Young voices sidelined In 2024, the average age of MPs elected to India's Parliament reached a record 56 years, which is a problem, said Shipra Barduni, CEO of Young Leaders for Active Citizenship, because there is not much youth representation in the legislature.
The second shift is in the nation's youth politics. India has traditionally had vibrant youth participation at the university level, where student parties have long been affiliated with national and regional parties. "Student politics has not only given a pulse check, or given a platform for young people to be able to express frustration, or anger, or dissent," said Barduni. "It's also given some of these parties and leaders today." "We've seen systematically over the last one decade that it has been cut down," Barduni added. "There is a very evident push to say that students should only study, and there is no need for students to engage in politics." "Where is the space for a young person to express their frustration? If you go on social media to criticize the government, there is a crackdown. Offices are screening your social media…," Barduni said. But Barduni believes the responsibility to connect with the youth doesn't lie with the central government alone. "It's the job of my ward councillor or my local elected leader to come out and say, 'let me talk to the young people in my locality, what are your concerns?'." DW reached out to BJP's youth leader for New Delhi and the party's national spokesperson but has not received a response from either. Decoding the Gen Z vibe Memes and music formed the backbone of reels posted on social media, while some young adults politely made their demands and others used expletives in sing-song slogans. When the government responded, that response itself became fodder for a new wave of memes and content. "The BJP does not understand expression of anger through ironic humor/memes, because their strategy was focused on the WhatsApp generation," political scientist and author Amit Julka told DW.
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