Modi Seeks to Calm Allies by Shackling Gen Z Protests

The ongoing youth protests rocking India caught Prime Minister Narendra Modi by surprise when they first broke out in the summer.

His deployment of police batons and tear gas, plus social media videos seeking to connect with Gen Z in their style, did little to contain them. A rare political climb-down, by sacrificing his education minister, got the protesters to go home for the time being, but it also emboldened his opponents.

So when the protesters announced another demonstration in the capital earlier this month, this time angry over changes to the nation’s voter roll, many leaders of the strongman’s own governing coalition were alarmed, as Mr. Modi maintained his trademark silence on anything negative.

But how Mr. Modi has dealt with the unrest in recent days — locking down the heart of New Delhi, detaining protest leaders and rounding up protesters by the thousands — signaled a better prepared strategy that has reassured some of his backers that he can stall the momentum of the protest movement, according to interviews with more than half a dozen senior members of the governing coalition. Most of them asked not be identified as they are not authorized to publicly discuss internal strategy.

The government’s approach is two-pronged, they said.

• First: Quash any mobilizing effort that suggests that public anger is the continuation of the organic Gen Z eruption over the summer that, by all accounts, unsettled Mr. Modi’s grip on power.

• Second: Allow the gatherings of the traditional opposition parties to go ahead, framing the fight squarely against a traditional foe that Mr. Modi has repeatedly beaten at elections and is confident of vanquishing again.

For now, the approach appears to be working.

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The “cockroach” youth movement — which began this summer over the failings of the education system and was revived this autumn over accusations that Mr. Modi is manipulating India’s election system — has become bogged down by the enormous powers of the state thrown at them.

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