00:00All right, so you heard those two voices over there, two very different voices, but both sort of speaking about
00:07a kind of trend that's emerging.
00:09It's not a trend that is really being seen or can be a mover or shaker at the moment, but
00:13at least one that is worth watching out for.
00:16But having heard them out, let's try and go back to somebody who actually understands and was perhaps responsible for
00:22the making of this trend as well.
00:24Ashutosh Ranka, co-convener of the Kokro Janta Party, is now joining us to talk to us a little bit
00:29more about this.
00:31Ashutosh, you heard both those new politicians over there, both trying to understand and how to navigate the system, both
00:39very raw.
00:40There's something nice about talking to young people like that, right?
00:43But let me come to you with a straight question.
00:46There's so many protests, Gen Alpha's protest in Rajasthan, Gen Z's protest, this school ban, that school ban, a highway
00:54ban, a school ban, a teacher ban, and all of this, BJP won again.
01:02So what is happening? Is this protest not turning into the ballot?
01:09No, see, a couple of things here, Sonal.
01:13Number one, if you just look at the overall data, there were two things that really stand out.
01:19Number one, 25% of the seats out of the 10,000 odd wards have been won by independent.
01:25And I was just looking at the data from 2014-15.
01:29There has been a marked increase in the number of seats and vote share of independent in the last 10
01:36years.
01:36There is a clear trend that, you know, there is a disillusionment with both the political parties, the two major
01:43political parties in Rajasthan, number one.
01:46Number two, a big role still continues to be played by delimitation.
01:51And let me give you one specific example of Jaipur.
01:54So Jaipur, we had a delimitation that was done.
01:58250 wards, two different municipal corporations merged into one, 150 wards.
02:04And even though Congress has garnered 13,000 more votes than BJP, delimitation has resulted in BJP winning 78 seats
02:14and Congress winning 53 seats.
02:17So there is a clear, clear impact of delimitation also on some of these seats.
02:22Rajatosh, I'm not very sure about your, I'll come back to you, but because I don't think there's a, if
02:28you look at the last trend that came out of the civic body polls,
02:30there has been a trend in Rajasthan of independence winning, especially in the civic body elections.
02:36Also, the trend has been that whichever party is in power at the state level, the same party ends up
02:41winning the civic polls as well.
02:42This is the pattern.
02:43When it was the, you know, the Congress government, you had the Congress winning, you know, corporations and civic bodies.
02:50Now the trend has shifted.
02:51So effectively, have Gen Z protests have new kind of thinking that we're talking about, new conversations emerging?
02:59Has it really had an impact, especially at a grassroots level?
03:04No, absolutely, Sonal, see, number one, as I said, there is data to show clearly that the number of independents
03:12who have won
03:13and percentage of vote share of this, of independents has increased.
03:17There's proper data to show that 2014-15 May, independent garnered about 23%, 22.6% vote,
03:25and that number has increased to almost 24%.
03:27One and a half percent, you both understand, makes a marked difference in number of seats that have won.
03:34Number one.
03:35Number two, one of the biggest things that I also observed in this election is both the parties actually failed
03:42effective,
03:43failed to, you know, field effective number of youngsters.
03:47I'm still looking for exact data on this, but I didn't see a lot of Gen Z councillors.
03:51I didn't see a lot of people who belong to the millennial age really contesting these elections, right?
03:58So, in spite of what this country has seen in the last few months, the candidates that are being fielded
04:06are still not reflective of the population.
04:0865% of this population is under 35.
04:1118 to 35, the voting age group represents 40% of the total voting population in Rajasthan.
04:16But that's not reflected in election results.
04:20And that's the reason I feel why there is still, you know, such a big shift towards independence.
04:26And two specific districts stood out for me.
04:31One was Education Minister's own district.
04:33And then the second was Chief Minister's district.
04:36In both of these districts, BJP has literally been wiped out.
04:39These are the two, you know, ministries or ministers, if I may, who have been largely, you know, at the
04:45receiving end of all the protests that are going on in the state.
04:48So, yes, of course, it's a long, long path.
04:51And the fight was never to, you know, defeat BJP in elections.
04:54But there are already clear trends that suggest that, you know, there is a shift in the way people are
05:00voting in the state.
05:01Okay.
05:02You spoke about protests.
05:03So, let me jog your memory a little bit, Ashutosh, and take you back to 14th of August.
05:07You remember where you were on 14th of August?
05:10You were in Rajasthan.
05:11You were in Rajasthan.
05:13You were in the Jadavas school.
05:16And the school gates had been locked.
05:18The kids had said, we want justice.
05:19We want better infrastructure.
05:21So much protests had happened.
05:22If I'm not wrong, the start of the entire Gen Alpha movement that we've covered so extensively here, where kids
05:28were trying to take back the conversation, the entire school chalo yatra as well, you know, school thik karo, you
05:34know, entire campaign that CJP ran as well.
05:37Despite that protest, you have lost that ward.
05:40What does that say?
05:45I'm not even sure if that ward has already gone for elections, number one.
05:50No, it has.
05:50Because that comes in a village, panchayat, and the panchayat elections are yet to be held.
05:55Anyway, see, again, Sonal, whenever people go out and vote, right, there are a whole lot of factors that come
06:03into picture, right?
06:05School is one of them.
06:06And we all know that there is not one single factor that results in people going out and vote.
06:13I don't know who the candidates from BJP were.
06:15I don't know who the candidates from Congress and other parties were.
06:18What I do know is that there is a macro trend that has clearly emerged from this picture, right?
06:23And that macro trend suggests that people seem to be disillusioned by both the mainstream political parties, at least in
06:29Rajasthan.
06:30And number two, the two ministries or the ministers that were at the receiving end have clearly been defeated in
06:37their district.
06:38So those are the two big macro trends that I'm taking away from this.
06:42And the third, as far as, you know, Alwa district is concerned, the school which I visited, I was just
06:47looking at the data.
06:4942 seats have either been won by Congress or independents.
06:5328 have been won by BJP, right?
06:55So even in that district, BJP has been defeated.
06:59So I think the macros clearly suggest a very, you know, deterministic picture that people are increasingly disillusioned with the
07:08mainstream politics.
07:09And then they are bracing up for change.
07:11And all the political parties, not just the ones in Rajasthan, these two, but all the political parties across the
07:17country really need to take stock of kind of people or candidates they are giving out tickets to.
07:23Because very soon, if people will find, will start finding, you know, better options, like the two cases which, you
07:30know, just came, right, both from BJP and Congress, people will go out and vote for them.
07:35Because that's what, you know.
07:37Can I ask you a very obvious next question then, Ashutosh?
07:41You say people are disgruntled.
07:43I see that.
07:44I hear you.
07:45I'm hearing that from a lot of Gen Z as well.
07:47You say they're out of options.
07:50CJP is not an option yet.
07:52You're saying people are not, young Gen Z people are not contesting elections.
07:55You've not given them a platform.
07:57You gave them a voice.
07:59You gave them a protest site.
08:00You've not given them a political party.
08:02Is that happening?
08:03No, I mean, Sonal, this is a question we should be asking to a 120-year-old party and a
08:0840-year-old party.
08:09We are still a three-month-old movement and we have been very clear that our focus right now is
08:14to continue working as a pressure group.
08:16We want to create a platform where, you know, youth truly feels represented.
08:20And since last three months, even after Janata Mantra also, we have just continued focusing on issues that really impact
08:27the youth.
08:28And that continues to be our priority.
08:30But yes, we are keeping a very close watch on the way politics is shaping up in the country.
08:36We are very clear that we are out there to, you know, change the way politics is being run in
08:39the country.
08:39I, for example, come from Rajasthan, so I have been very keenly watching some of the political developments in the
08:46last three months.
08:47And some of the trends are, of course, welcome, but there is still a very long way to go.
08:51As I said, I didn't see a lot of Gen Z candidates or millennial candidates in these elections.
08:55I was expecting, right?
08:57But you did keep an eye, you did keep an eye on elections that are emerging in two other states
09:01even before Rajasthan.
09:02I'm talking about UP and Punjab.
09:04You had a meeting with the Samajwadi Party chief over there.
09:09There is in UP now a full Gen Z outreach program that is being done across parties, from BJP to
09:16Congress to Samajwadi Party as well.
09:19What exactly will be Kokrojanta Party's role when it comes to the upcoming elections in both, in UP and Punjab?
09:25I have a different question. I'll come to that.
09:28No, Sonal, we, again, I mean, you selectively talk about UP and Punjab.
09:33I was there in Karnataka, for example, right?
09:36No one talked about it because probably it didn't fit a select agenda.
09:41There were my core team members were in Jharkand for 10 days straight.
09:45No one talked about it, right?
09:47Deepke went to MP, Balaghat, he was there.
09:49No one talked about it. He's in Maharashtra.
09:51So, I mean, the point is for us, we are very clear that we want to cover the country.
09:57We are very clear that we want to talk about schools across the country, irrespective of the political parties in
10:01power.
10:02We are very clear that we are also open to dialogue wherever the government wants to.
10:06In Maharashtra, the education minister invited us. We went, met him.
10:10In Karnataka, the education minister invited us. We went, met him.
10:13In Punjab, the education minister invited us. We went and met him, right?
10:16And these three states, which I just named, belong to three different political parties, right?
10:22So, we have one very clear single agenda right now, which is the focus on fixing the government schools and
10:28we'll cover the country, right?
10:32I understand that there are elections around the corner.
10:35So, everything we do in those particular states will be seen with a different angle than the rest of the
10:40state.
10:40But if we look at our overall approach, we have been agnostic of which state is going in elections.
10:46All right. I only asked it not because of any agenda, Ashutosh.
10:49It was just because these two states are going into polls.
10:53So, it's an obvious question to ask.
10:54So, when you meet these leaders, you will be asked those questions, which is why the question popped up.
10:58So, interesting to hear your views.
11:00Still a pressure group, not a political party, CJP.
11:03Ashutosh Ranka, they're clarifying.
11:04Let's see what comes out and let's see if the upcoming election, the feedback changes that for them.
11:09We'll, of course, be watching this space very closely.
11:11Thanks so much for joining us.
11:12Thanks.
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