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Students are once again at the heart of a nationwide debate as protests in Jharkhand's Ranchi draw comparisons with the recent agitation at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
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00:00Well, one protest brought Delhi's Jantar Mantar to the centre of a national debate.
00:05Another one now, in Jharkhand Ranchi's Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium,
00:10is turning protest into the epicentre of Jharkhand student movement.
00:14Separated by distance, but united by discontent.
00:18How similar are these two agitations, and where do they part ways?
00:23I was there on ground, both in Jharkhand and earlier in Jantar Mantar.
00:28Here's my report.
00:33One protest shook Delhi.
00:39Another is now shaking Jharkhand.
00:44Hundreds of kilometres apart, different governments, different exams.
00:50But the same story.
00:52Like Jantar Mantar, Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium is a student-led movement
00:57demanding transparency, accountability and an end to alleged recruitment irregularities.
01:07Like Delhi, Rachi too has drawn ordinary citizens who came on their own,
01:12standing with the protesters out of conviction, not mobilisation.
01:18The similarities don't end there.
01:22Hunger strikes became the moral face of both movements.
01:27Volunteers donated food and public support, kept both protests alive.
01:33More than protest sites, both became symbols of a generation demanding accountability from
01:39institutions they believe have failed them.
01:43But that's where the similarities end.
01:46Jantar Mantar belonged to Gen Z, the first-time protesters.
01:50Young people who still believed the system could change.
01:56Swimming Google because they protected us from the tear gas.
02:00We do not trust the government and the police personnel in Delhi police because they are more
02:04like the gundas, not the personnel who make us feel secure, provide security to us.
02:09What made you come here?
02:11I am a UPSC aspirant.
02:13You are a UPSC aspirant.
02:14I am a UPSC aspirant.
02:15I have not attempted UPSC yet.
02:18But the absurdity of paper which came this year, it was like the people, they were very angry
02:28about whatever the paper was.
02:31It was all out of the syllabus.
02:35So you are angry at the system, you are saying?
02:37Yeah, angry at the system.
02:39It is not just about UPSC, what made me come here, but it is about the need scam and all
02:45the corruption which is happening in the education system.
02:50Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium belongs to another generation.
02:53Young men and women in their late 20s and 30s.
02:57Candidates who have spent years preparing, appearing, waiting, only to feel the system robbed them
03:03of their youth.
03:07No, nothing had been changed.
03:09When?
03:10Tenth may were.
03:10You were 10th.
03:11Tenth car preparing me as a country.
03:13I was writing in the library.
03:15I was studying for a library.
03:16You were preparing for JSC.
03:17They were preparing for JSC in the 2012.
03:18I was preparing for JSC, I'm also preparing for JSC.
03:21PSC, they were doing that.
03:23They were preparing for 30 plus.
03:24you are preparing for one exam. How many years are you?
03:31I have been 30 years, 30 years.
03:33And this is 19 years. When do you get one exam?
03:37When do you get one exam?
03:38When do you get one exam?
03:398 years.
03:408 years.
03:41When do you get one exam?
03:54Jantar Mantar was louder.
03:57Its slogans carried wit, satire and sarcasm aimed at those in power.
04:05This is what I wrote.
04:07Every student asks that our career is sinking.
04:11Now we don't have a career.
04:12Now we are going to get married.
04:15Now we are going to get married.
04:17Now we are going to get married.
04:19Like I said you look lovely and that's the makeup artist.
04:22Have you paid her for this makeup or is it a joint collaboration?
04:28My idea, my work, my display and of course we are supporting the youth.
04:33This is the collaboration.
04:36Raji sounds different.
04:38The humour is gone.
04:39The slogans are no longer clever.
04:42They are raw expressions of frustration from people
04:45who no longer believe institutions will correct themselves.
04:50They are the co-operative service.
04:52I am eligible for these two.
04:53Then I did not get any post.
04:55Why did not get it?
04:56I did not tell you.
04:57I wanted to get it to the truth.
04:58I made it.
04:59I made it.
05:00I made it.
05:01I made it.
05:02I made it.
05:02I made it.
05:03I made it.
05:03I made it.
05:04I made it.
05:04I made it.
05:05I made it.
05:06I made it.
05:06I made it.
05:17The hand gave.
05:20I made it.
05:21I made it.
05:21I made it.
05:23No in lĂŠg time.
05:26If you want to see anything on theиŃă men's march it should not expect you to see uncle,
05:29everybody.
05:3153..."
05:32If you knew each rick mark,
05:33all the staff are selected from publicě.
05:35All of us with additional charges.
05:38National in personal recital papers
05:39have only high marks.
05:41This exam exam pertain.
05:47Jantar Mantar became a pan-India student movement.
05:52Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium proudly wears the identity of Jharkhand, rooted in its own culture, symbols and structures.
06:01History often offers a warning.
06:04Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium was never just an address.
06:07Today, Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium wears the mantle.
06:11Different cities, different governments.
06:14Yet the youth are still on the streets asking the same questions.
06:20Bureau Report, India Today.
06:25Meera, sometimes courage is contagious.
06:27What happened in Jantar Mantar is happening in the Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium.
06:32Let me also give you a glimpse.
06:34No slogans, no fiery speeches, yet these protests are impossible to ignore.
06:39From Jaipur to Dehradun, students with disabilities are finding new ways to demand dignity and access to equal rights.
06:49Here's a report by my colleagues, Sharad Kumar and Ankit Sharma.
06:56Not every protest is loud.
06:59Some are spoken through silence.
07:01Some are read through touch.
07:05Across India, even students with disabilities are taking to the streets,
07:10proving that when institutions don't listen, every voice finds its own language.
07:19In Jaipur, deaf and mute students protested without raising a slogan.
07:24Through sign language alone, they exposed crumbling classrooms, broken toilets, a water crisis, and neglect.
07:35Their silence spoke so loudly that officials arrived, inspections followed, and action was taken.
07:42I have given my number, my mobile number.
07:45You don't have to do this.
07:47You don't have to do this.
07:48You don't have to do this.
07:49And tell me.
07:53In Dehradun, visually impaired students are now raising their own demands.
07:58We have a lot of problems, which is one of the main problems, which is scholarship.
08:05After the 12th, we received a financial support from the institute.
08:08We received a scholarship from the institute, but it was closed.
08:13In this institute, there was the biggest problem that there was no permanent director.
08:16Those who have been charged in the institute, they do not stay in the institute.
08:19And when they come, we don't get a lot of information that they have come to us and that we
08:23can get a problem.
08:24In our hostel, there are CCTV cameras.
08:34For years, it was said the new generation wasn't political.
08:39Today, the streets tell a different story.
08:41A new generation is finding new ways to be heard.
08:45Different voices, different struggles, with one message.
08:49Listen.
08:50With Sharad Kumar and Ankit Kumar, Bureau Report, India Today.
08:56The emotion, the same view as the theater only shifting.
09:00Joining me right now is senior journalist, Mr. Vleen Singh.
09:04Thank you, Ms. Singh, for joining us.
09:06One quick question.
09:07Where do you see?
09:07Do you see, actually?
09:09Any similarities or what do you think is different between the protests that had taken place in
09:14Jantar Mantar and the one taking place as we speak in Rachi's Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium?
09:21I think they're exactly the same protest.
09:24I think that it's an expression of despair that you see not just in these older students, but I don't
09:33know whether you saw the schoolgirls coming out and saying, we have no teachers, we have no toilets, we have
09:40no water.
09:40So, you know, I mean, you've traveled quite a lot in villages.
09:45This is the truth.
09:46This is the reality about our education system.
09:49It has been neglected for decades and no one has done anything about it.
09:55And now we're at a point when young people are not prepared to accept that this is the way it's
10:01going to be.
10:03Ms. Singh, what happened in Jantar Mantar was Gen Z. What's happening in Rachi is a generation that is beyond
10:12that, late 20s, 30s, disappointed, disillusioned, something that has been simmering for a while.
10:19The question I'd like to ask you is, how do you see this manifest politically, if at all you see
10:24it manifest politically?
10:26I see it all connected. I saw the interviews you were doing with those people.
10:30And what came to mind was, do you remember when there was a railway opening, a railway recruitment a couple
10:38of years ago, a few years ago, and for 10,000 jobs, there were 2 million applicants.
10:43So I think that some of it is to do with the fact that these young people are not qualified
10:50enough to get jobs in the private sector.
10:53So they keep trying over and over again to get that government job, which seems to demand less.
11:00But it's a shame on India that in 2026, with this great slogan of Viksit Bharat, the Indian dream remains
11:11a government job.
11:13Every time I see this, it breaks my heart.
11:16Because, you know, it's one thing to think of socialist times when there was no private sector, etc.
11:23But to think that today, a young Indian, his ultimate dream is to get a government job.
11:30That is really very, very sad.
11:34Do you see things boiling over now, Ms. Tavreen, because you've looked at the politics of this country for a
11:39while, you've studied the polity for a while, because this seemingly is not about one government or one political party.
11:46The government will change, the theatre will be different.
11:49But, you know, could be another city at all.
11:52How do you see things pan now?
11:54Do you see another theatre opening after Ranchi, somewhere else, different government?
12:01Absolutely.
12:02Because the one area in which there has been, which has been most neglected is investment in the human beings
12:12in this country.
12:13Do you know, you can build all the highways you want and the airports and everything, but if your people
12:20do not have the tools to get a job, and the tools are education and healthcare, and those are the
12:28least invested in.
12:30Do you know that I've seen people, young people from Nepal who come to Bombay and Delhi to get jobs,
12:37who are better educated than our children.
12:40When our children come out of school, they're not, they're literate at the most, if they're lucky.
12:47They can count and maybe read, but they can't read a novel or write one.
12:52So, you know, we've really let the young people in India down, and if I was their age, I would
12:59be in the streets as well.
13:02Ms. Singh, thank you for taking the time out and joining me.
13:04I'm going to cut across to our two other guests this evening, political analyst Sanjay Jha, as well as political
13:11analyst Karan Verma.
13:12Both of you will get two minutes each to put your points forward.
13:14And I'd like to begin with Karan Verma, because Karan Verma, there is a set today that is drawing a
13:20stark differentiation between what happened in Jantar Mantar and what is ensuing right now in Rachi.
13:29Oh, absolutely, Preethi. If you ask me, I think they're as different as chalk and cheese, because of the simple
13:35fact that the one we're seeing in Jharkhand, unfortunately, it's not getting that kind of attention.
13:40I'm glad you're covering it.
13:42But it hasn't received the kind of eyeballs, despite it being a rather peaceful and a rather civil movement, in
13:49the sense we haven't seen the kind of obscene and vulgar sloganeering here.
13:53Neither have we seen history sheeters being a part of the crowd.
13:57You had 2,800 of criminals, I mean, supposed criminals, first-time criminals, whatever you call them, as a part
14:04of the Jantar Mantar gang.
14:05Here, you have civil people who are not abusing the cops, who are not picking up stones, and all they're
14:12doing is raising their legitimate demand.
14:14So, this deserves a better audience, if you ask me.
14:17But such are the times we live in where, unfortunately, being good, being civil, doesn't get you the kind of
14:23audience that perhaps creating a ruckus gets you.
14:26Now, education is a very serious issue.
14:29I've always said I wanted Dharmendra Pradhan to resign long time back.
14:32I wanted him to resign when the first meet leaked.
14:36But that doesn't mean that we justify people picking up stones, taking to the streets in this fashion, not following
14:43the law, flouting all norms.
14:45That is also uncalled for.
14:47I'm glad the government is now responding.
14:49The government should have responded long time back.
14:51But what's happening in Jharkhand?
14:53Where is this selectivism?
14:54Now the Cockroach Janta Party has said, oh, yes, we'll dispatch a delegation there.
14:58For 14 days, people kept asking, are you going to ask for the resignation of the Jharkhand education minister with
15:04the same passion?
15:05And they were mum.
15:06They were mum about what was happening in Punjab and Karnataka.
15:09So, clearly there was and there is a political agenda behind what happened with the CJP.
15:14I've been to many education town halls.
15:17And I can tell you, I asked them, what about the Radha Krishna committee?
15:20Did they even discuss one norm of it?
15:22I have gone on to say that the government's lacked behind, could not implement 27 of the recommendations, 5 of
15:28the major recommendations.
15:29None of them have had that concern.
15:30So, how serious are they about education?
15:32Karan, your time is over.
15:34I'll circle back to you.
15:34But I beg to disagree on two points.
15:38Number one, nobody's being selective.
15:40I think there's massive coverage of the Ranchi protests, possibly even more than what was of Jantar Mantar.
15:45Number two, the Cockroach Janta Party should be and is completely irrelevant to the scheme of things in Jharkhand.
15:52Those protesting on ground, for someone who spent the last couple of days there, I can tell you, the protesters
15:57are not asking for the resignation of the education minister.
16:01They're actually asking for a CBI probe, which the government, and three other issues.
16:06But the sticking point is a CBI probe, which strangely, Hemant Sorain's government is refusing to acknowledge.
16:12Those are the reasons.
16:13But I want to bring in Sanjay Jha into this conversation.
16:15Sanjay Jha, your two-minute start now.
16:17Do you see any similarity with what is happening in Jharkhand or what happened in Jantar Mantar?
16:24Preeti, to begin with, I think what you have witnessed in Jantar Mantar or in Ranchi or in different parts
16:31of India, by India's Gen Z and now Gen Alpha,
16:35I think should be music to the ears of every citizen of this country, whether they're millennials or Gen X
16:42or boomer or whatever.
16:44Because it goes to tell you that eventually, no matter how hard you try to repress people, how authoritarian the
16:52government may be, over the last 12 years, we are all aware of the stifling of voices and dissent.
17:00Eventually, at some point, somebody is going to wake up and suddenly a society is going to find its vocal
17:07cords.
17:07I think what you're witnessing is a metamorphosis in society and its repercussions are going to be very dramatic on
17:14politics.
17:15And you and I will probably be debating about it for a long time to come.
17:20So let's go to the chairs and answer your question.
17:22The truth is, and I'm also, you know, kind of followed India's economic fortunes for a long time.
17:29We have paid lip service as a government, particularly under Mr. Modi, to the problem of jobs and education.
17:36Just by rhetoric and hype and trying to create vote banks, you are not finding solutions to the problems of
17:43the young.
17:44And when they protested because of the examination scandals, because of all the issues in terms of jobs.
17:51I mean, tomorrow, AI is going to destroy a lot of future of the young in India.
17:56Mr. Modi's government got rattled.
17:58They called them the gutter generation.
17:59They called them anti-nationals, tukre-tukre gang, et cetera, et cetera.
18:03They are very, very vulgar comments on what is meant to be India's future.
18:08So I think this is a significant difference between Jantar Mantar and Rachi.
18:13No pellet guns are being used.
18:15No lottery charge is going to happen.
18:16Nobody is going to be called as a traitor to the country.
18:19We're going to have dialogue.
18:20We'll find a solution.
18:22And I think India's young deserve to be respected.
18:24I'd like to give both of you a minute each to sum up your thoughts.
18:28Karan, please go ahead.
18:30So, you know, when my good friend Sanjay says no pellet guns, no latte charges, that's because they haven't crossed
18:36that line.
18:37You have a graded system of response by the police.
18:40If you are not jumping over barricades, you are not going to get that sort of response.
18:44And if some police officer has given that response, he too should be booked, which is why the Supreme Court
18:48said that the log entries, the CCTV footage needs to be retained.
18:52But I would say this.
18:54Whenever we talk of jobs, whenever private investment comes in, whenever we talk about the big corporates doing well, the
19:01same ecosystem, Preeti, continues to ostracize them.
19:04You know, sling mud at them, that why is the private sector, this is crony capitalism, this is sootbootki sarkar,
19:11those sort of jibes continue to fly in.
19:13If we are really serious about it, we should not stall manufacturing everywhere.
19:17We should not stall projects.
19:19We should make land acquisition easier because it's the private sector that needs to blossom.
19:24Let's stop looking at them the way Rahul Gandhi and the ecosystem does, Adani, Adani.
19:28Let's stop villainizing them.
19:30You need to handhold the corporates if you really want to create jobs and if you're really bothered about the
19:35youth getting those jobs.
19:37All right.
19:38Sanjay, can I bring you in for a minute, please?
19:40Yeah, sure.
19:41Preeti, very quickly.
19:4394,000 government schools closed over a decade.
19:47It tells you where India's priorities are.
19:50And let me tell you, if you are not going to invest in education and health and really look at
19:56job creation, it's a serious effort.
19:58It doesn't happen overnight.
19:59You are going to face the consequences that Mr. Modi is facing today.
20:03I mean, Mr. Modi, I mean, a man who was deemed to be he who cannot be named, is now
20:09a butt of international and local ridicule with Instagram memes.
20:12It's a message from the young of India.
20:14They have had enough.
20:16They're worried about their future.
20:18People died.
20:19They committed suicide.
20:20And for days on end, you didn't have this government in conversation.
20:24Sonam Wangchuk had to be pushed nearly to the brink before this very arrogant government even woke up.
20:30You know, my friend Karan talks about backing the corporates.
20:34Well, you know, making India was a flop because this government spent all its time in industrialization of hate.
20:39India has woken up.
20:41And I think that's good news for the country.
20:43All right.
20:43Well, that is very crisp from both of you.
20:45Thank you for joining us and giving us your thoughts.
20:48There will be takers for each of what Karan said and what Sanjay said there laid out for you.
20:53You pick the side that you want to stand on.
20:55Thank you for the both of you for joining us this evening.
20:58We ask for somebody who has spent the last couple of days in Jharkhand, who had spent some time in
21:04Jantar Mantar as well.
21:05So what is it that I feel is similar and what is different between Jantar Mantar and the Jaipal Munda
21:12Stadium?
21:13To begin with, the crowds are smaller than Jantar Mantar, but numbers alone rarely tell the story of a protest.
21:20The mood, the emotion and the underlying sense of betrayal often matters far more.
21:25In that sense, what is unfolding at Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium feels uncannily familiar to what happened in Jantar Mantar.
21:34Like Jantar Mantar, this movement sits at the intersection of public outrage and political engagement and tacit support by political
21:42parties.
21:43Like Jantar Mantar, there is an unmistakable political undercurrent.
21:48Yet, it would be a mistake to dismiss the gathering as politically manufactured.
21:53Much of the crowd you see is organic.
21:57Ordinary citizens, ordinary citizens are here not because they were mobilized, but because they felt compelled to be there.
22:06Let's talk about the demographics.
22:08Well, the demographics tell a different story.
22:12This is where the two protests part.
22:14Jantar Mantar belonged to a younger India, the Gen Z, first-time protesters, idealists who believed change was well within
22:21reach.
22:22Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium is populated largely by people in their late 20s and 30s.
22:27They are no longer driven by optimism, but by angst.
22:32They are a generation that has lived through repeated scandals, broken promises, and institutional failures.
22:39Their anger is not impulsive.
22:41It is but accumulated.
22:44That is why it lands harder, more difficult to hear.
22:47The solidarity on display where both Jantar Mantar and Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium is concerned, reminiscent of Jantar Mantar and
22:58this protest.
22:59As it happened then, citizens have here as well begun expressing support in tangible ways, sending foods, essential supplies to
23:07sustain those participating in the protest.
23:09A public declaration that the protest belongs not only to those occupying the space, but also to those watching from
23:17afar.
23:18Let's talk about the language.
23:20Much has been said about the language of protest.
23:24Well, Jaipal Singh Munda, very different.
23:27Jantar Mantar was marked by satire.
23:30It was marked by irreverence, witty slogans, sometimes insults, biting sarcasm, aimed at those in power.
23:37The mood in Jharkhand is different.
23:39The dominant emotions are raw anger, helplessness, and anguish.
23:43The humor, that once softened descent at Jantar Mantar, has given way to a more visceral expression of disillusionment.
23:52Because history often offers a warning.
23:54Jantar Mantar was never really about a single location.
23:59Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium is today the new Jantar Mantar.
24:02If the underlying causes of this anger remain unaddressed, with what is being said at Jharkhand, at today's protest site,
24:10we'll simply find echo in another theatre tomorrow.
24:14The venue will change.
24:15The emotion will not.
24:17The real question today is not whether this protest will end.
24:20It will end.
24:21The question is whether the conditions that produced it will end.
24:26With that, it's a wrap on the show.
24:29Thank you for joining us.
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