Anita Anand | Is It A Protest, A Movement Or History Being Made?

In India, since July this year, we have witnessed the growth of a protest that has evolved into a movement calling for systemic changes across the political, social, and economic spheres.

The protest, initiated by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), called for the education minister's resignation over a leaked paper and for cancelling the Centrally conducted qualifying exam, Neet, for millions of young people. Eventually, the minister resigned.

But the protest continued and gained momentum after it was revealed that almost 130 million names were removed from electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a voter roll revision, for reasons ranging from "logical discrepancies" to people being recorded as deceased. Ironically, these were individuals and communities who may not have supported the current BJP government in the most recent and upcoming elections.

The protesters are now calling for the chief election commissioner's resignation. Various citizen groups and opposition political parties have joined them. Across India, in cities and towns, outrage over the SIR is mounting. These protests are now coalescing into a movement.

Is there a difference between a protest and a movement? Yes, there is.

A protest or a demonstration is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be acts of cooperation in which many people attend and share the potential costs and risks. They can take many forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations, to make opinions heard and influence public opinion or government policy.

Political sociologist Sidney Tarrow defines a social movement as a collective challenge by people with common purposes and solidarity, sustained through ongoing interactions with elites, opponents and authorities. Tarrow deliberately distinguishes social movements from political parties and formal advocacy groups — a distinction that goes to the heart of what makes movements unique.

Sometimes, as in India now, restrictions on forms of self-expression and protest stem from government policy. One state response to protests is the deployment of riot police. Globally, there has been an increased militarisation of protest policing, with police deploying armoured vehicles and snipers against protesters, using violence and making arrests. When such restrictions occur, protests may take the form of open civil disobedience (such as hunger strikes) or more subtle forms of resistance.

When does a protest become a social movement?

A social movement occurs when short-lived protests give way to long-term aims and sustained association among groups of people. It may be loosely organised in support of a specific goal, either to implement or to prevent a change in society’s structure or values. It is a collective and spontaneous coming together of people whose relationships are not defined by rules and procedures, yet who share a common outlook on life.

India has a long tradition of social movements, too numerous to detail here. Prominent sociologists, including the late M.S.A. Rao and the late T.K. Oommen, have theorised that social movements emerge when existing institutions fail to address the needs and aspirations of certain sections of society. In India, these movements have arisen from social inequalities based on caste, class, religion, gender and ethnicity, and have aimed to create a more inclusive and participatory democracy.

This is borne out by the recent mass mobilisation, which has brought together marginalised communities, farmers, workers, women and environmental activists. The organisational networks include NGOs, unions, civil society and now political parties.

The current movement, as I call it, is long overdue. But it’s a different kind of movement.

It's different, first, because it's led by young people of Gen Z (those born between 1996 and 2012). It's targeted and strategic. Targeted, as it places the blame for the current state of politics and the economy squarely on the government since it took power in 2014. Strategic, as it focuses on a few issues, such as the leak of the Neet exam papers and the 130 million missing from the electoral rolls, and then connects these to the government's policies and practices to create mischief (as in the SIR) and widespread corruption (as in the Neet exams).

It also differs because it's decentralised, youth-driven, and legally complex, combining satire, protest and digital activism to challenge political authority, economic failures and democratic governance. It chooses non-violence, mockery, songs, poetry, theatre and a degree of irreverence previously unknown. It now has massive appeal to all sections of society who have felt outraged yet accepted the state of affairs in resignation. Afraid of government backlash, many have chosen to stay silent.

The movement has used social media effectively to explain its issues and maximise protest numbers. Its use of Facebook, Insta and X has enhanced activism by enabling rapid information dissemination and coordination. Sociologists Dustin Kidd and Keith McIntosh suggest that social media is a mobilising tool that interacts with opportunity structures, such as political instability and economic decline, to foster social movements. It is also a powerful catalyst, but it can only function within and depend on pre-existing grievances and/or institutional dynamics.

It is precisely this that the movement is focusing on now — pre-existing grievances and institutional dynamics. Across the board, citizens are fed up with the government’s incompetence and the leadership of the Prime Minister and Home minister, which has compromised the judiciary, police and other institutions. The Hindutva agenda has pervaded these institutions and rendered them ineffective.

At this juncture, many question where the movement will go, what it will achieve and whether it is an alternative to the present government. That may depend on how prepared we, as citizens, are to have the courage not to ask what the alternative is, which we tend to do.

The question could well be: What if the movement succeeds? Are we prepared to take that risk?