The biggest disservice sections of the Bharatiya and international media have done in recent times is not merely getting their facts wrong—it is deliberately getting their characterisation wrong. Calling anarchists, political foot soldiers and habitual troublemakers as “GenZ” is perhaps one of the most dishonest narratives sold to the people of Bharat.
Generation Z is not a protest movement. It is not a political ideology. It certainly is not a euphemism for those taking to the streets to create disorder in the name of students. GenZ is a generation of young Bharatiyas who are scripting Bharat’s success story every single day. They are building drones and satellites, launching rockets, creating world-class start-ups, developing artificial intelligence technologies, representing Bharat in global competitions and burning the midnight oil to crack some of the world’s toughest competitive examinations. They are helping transform Bharat into a Viksit Bharat.
They deserve an apology from the media for having their identity hijacked.
It was against this backdrop that noted columnist and Editor of Tughlak magazine, Dr. S. Gurumurthy, rightly questioned the irresponsible usage of the word GenZ during a television debate. His argument was unambiguous—millions of GenZ youngsters are nation-builders, while a handful of politically motivated elements are being projected as their representatives. The two cannot and should not be equated.
Millions of Bharatiyas have witnessed these developments themselves. No political party or media house can now insult their intelligence by pretending otherwise.
The media may have every right to criticise governments. That is the very essence of democracy. But democracy does not permit intellectual dishonesty. Romanticising anarchy as youthful idealism has become fashionable. Every organised street protest is conveniently described as a spontaneous youth movement and every disruption is elevated into democratic resistance. The script has become painfully repetitive.
The larger conspiracy is not merely political. It is narrative-building. Delegitimise institutions, demonise governments, internationalise domestic issues and manufacture moral legitimacy for organised disruption. Sections of the international media have perfected this formula whenever Bharat refuses to fit into their preconceived notions.
The irony, of course, is impossible to miss.
The very political parties that once described every protest during the Indira Gandhi era as the handiwork of a “foreign hand” today have no hesitation whatsoever in seeking validation from international platforms whenever it suits their political interests. Electoral irrelevance at home appears to have made international endorsement politically fashionable.
The Congress-led Opposition is perfectly entitled to seek accountability wherever intelligence failures are established. That is Parliament’s constitutional responsibility. However, accountability cannot become an excuse for political opportunism. Demanding apologies from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for every administrative lapse has become a tired political ritual ever since 2014.
Even your e-paper’s view
The people of Bharat have witnessed this obsession for over a decade.
Equally unacceptable has been the attempt to portray every agitator as a student and every student as an agitator. Genuine students with genuine grievances deserve compassion and justice. Governments must engage with them, hear them and, wherever necessary, correct their mistakes. There can never be two opinions on that.
But compassion cannot become capitulation.
If innocent students deserve relief, those indulging in violence deserve prosecution. There cannot be separate standards of justice merely because certain sections of the media find particular protests politically fashionable. Law cannot wear ideological spectacles.
Those who vandalise public property, indulge in violence or violate the law cease to enjoy the moral high ground merely because television studios choose to describe them as GenZ revolutionaries.
Bharat’s real GenZ does not seek validation from social media trends or television debates. They are too busy building their futures and Bharat’s future. They are not blocking roads but building highways of innovation. They are not paralysing institutions but strengthening them. They are not manufacturing outrage but manufacturing opportunities.
The Modi government may have shown magnanimity by engaging with genuine students. Such accommodation is both democratic and desirable. But this generosity must stop where organised lawlessness begins. Every allegation relating to criminal conduct, foreign participation or unlawful activities must be investigated professionally and prosecuted wherever evidence warrants such action, irrespective of political affiliations or public sentiment.
No elected government can afford to blink repeatedly before organised anarchy.
Finally, Parliament cannot become another casualty of this politics of disruption. Political parties unwilling to debate legislation but ever willing to stall both Houses do not strengthen democracy—they weaken it. The electorate is carefully watching who participates in democratic discourse and who profits from democratic paralysis.
The time has therefore come for the media to stop calling anarchists GenZ. Bharat’s young generation deserves celebration, not misrepresentation. Genuine dissent deserves constitutional protection. Organised anarchy deserves constitutional consequences.
Bharat cannot become a Vishwa Guru by glorifying disruption. It will become one by standing firmly with its nation-builders and unapologetically defending its democratic institutions, national interests and constitutional order.
very interesting and informative observation. keep it up