The Gen Z revolutions: India next?

After Nepal joined Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the list of countries yet to be roiled by revolution on the Subcontinent has been reduced to three: India, Pakistan and the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. [Even as these lines are being written, a mass movement is unfolding on the Pakistan side of the Line of Control in Kashmir.]

Events just across the Indian border in Nepal unfolded in a matter of hours and days. If and when this revolutionary wave comes home to India, it will do so without warning. And when it does, it will rock the world. India is the most populous country globally and by far the dominant regional power. The ruling class of India are unable to hide their terror.

It is terror with understandable grounds. A rapidly growing economy, enriching a tiny corrupt layer of dynasts and nepo kids, while the majority of the population, overwhelmingly youthful, languish in poverty and unemployment. Are we talking about Nepal, or Indonesia… or India?

Graduate unemployment in Bangladesh, a factor in the movement last year, stood at 39 percent. In India, 40 percent of graduates are unemployed.

90 percent of youth under 25 in Indonesia are employed in the informal sector, without any rights or security. In Nepal, 92 percent of under 25s are employed in the informal sector. In India, it’s the same figure.

The rulers are looking at each other nervously.

Panicking, some jump up, defending themselves more in anticipation than against any direct accusation of being ‘dynasts’ or ‘nepo kids’.

Former Maharashtra state minister Aaditya Thackeray, son of former minister Thackeray, grandson of founder of the family’s party, Bal Thackeray, scion of the Thackeray dynasty, says he is “proud” of being a nepo kid his “family’s political heritage”.

Aaditya Thackeray says he is “proud” of his “family’s political heritage” / Image: TheYuvaSena, Wikimedia Commons

The ex-Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, son of Chief Justice of India YV Chandrachud, dusted off his diploma from Harvard Law School to prove that his qualifications extend beyond being the son of Chandrachud Sr.  

Another Maharashtra politician, the ex-CEO Rohit Pawar of the powerful Pawar political dynasty, begs for a bit of understanding from Gen Z, who have misjudged their politicians so unfairly: “If a doctor is not called a ‘nepo doctor’, if a lawyer is not called a ‘nepo lawyer’, then why only us?” Such pitiful pleading really rends the heart in twain.

The country’s ruling cliques have taken to threatening each other with the horrible spectre of the ‘Gen Z revolution’ coming to India. They know how to deprive each other of sleep.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party, historically the main party of Indian capitalism, has called on “the Gen Z of the country” to “save the Constitution” and “protect democracy” from vote theft. In response to which, a senior BJP figure reminded Rahul Gandhi that he is “the ultimate ‘Nepo Kid’ of Indian politics”.

That kind of language worked for the BJP in the past and they put it to good use. Before the world had Trump, it had Modi. His BJP rose to power precisely by mixing a populist anti-elite message, attacking the traditional Congress dynasts that dominated Indian politics, which was combined with an ultra-liberal economic programme of mass privatisation and Modi’s own brand of Hindutva chauvinism.

But half of Indians are under 25. They have lived their whole conscious lives under Modi’s rule since 2014 – with all its cronyism and corruption, that has seen huge sums siphoned off into the pockets of the Adanis and Ambanis, leading beneficiaries of Modi’s nepotism.

It is certainly amusing to watch the ruling class of India so publicly airing their anxieties in front of the whole world. More seriously, it is a sign that they know what is coming.

The masses barely have their noses above the water line. Add to this shocks like Trump’s tariffs, which are hitting South Asia particularly hard, and especially India where they are at 50 percent, and a general worldwide economic slowdown on top of that, and it won’t be long before the masses are completely submerged.

The same conditions that sparked the Gen Z movement exist in India. And to emphasise again: when the revolutionary spark catches in India, it will have more far-reaching consequences than any of the movements we’ve seen in the recent past. It is a major regional power, the 4th largest economy in the world, particularly in tech and pharmaceuticals, and the world’s most-populous nation, with a vast working class.

And the foreshocks of what’s to come can already be felt.

The Indian ruling class found its prestige in tatters after it was forced into a humiliating climbdown when war broke out with Pakistan over Kashmir. It seems morale in the army has collapsed. On 13 September there were actually mass protests of soldiers across Bihar state!

The protests over the economic conditions of soldiers were joined by a threat of a national strike if their demands weren’t met. Unsurprisingly, the Indian media has maintained complete silence about these protests, which were only reported on internationally. Cracks in the army are a very ominous sign for the Indian capitalists at a time when their country is ringed by revolutionary eruptions.

Meanwhile, in Leh, the capital of the northern Himalayan territory Ladakh, mass youth protests erupted last week in solidarity with hunger strikers, demanding statehood for the region, democratic rights, and the right to decent living conditions. They borrowed the methods and slogans from elsewhere, including the torching of the local headquarters of the ruling party, Modi’s BJP.

Whether it is tomorrow, the day after, or in a year’s time, a serious reckoning is coming for the Indian ruling class.