India has been gripped by weeks of protests against the established order, first against the Education Minister and now the Chief Election Commissioner. While centred in New Delhi, there have been smaller protests in other cities across the country.
Although not exclusively a young people thing, these agitations have been led in the main by students and other young people.
In this, India is not alone.
From Jantar Mantar to the boulevards of Paris, young people, frustrated by institutions they believe are failing them, are taking to the streets in large numbers. While the issues driving the protests in France and India differ in their immediate causes, both movements reflect a deeper crisis of trust between citizens and the state.
In France, student-led demonstrations that began over worsening conditions in public education have grown into a broader national movement. Protesters have cited teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school infrastructure and dissatisfaction with the university admissions system.
That eventually led to some of the ugliest riots and looting seen in France in years. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that the situation was then exploited by foreign governments for their own purposes. Though he did not mention them by name, he was probably referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, who have both used the French riots to push their own right-wing narrative ahead of elections.
Even within France, politicians of different hues are referencing the protests and the riots for their own campaigns – the country has just six months to go before its presidential elections. Macron is not eligible for reelection and there is a very real possibility this time (more so than in any previous year) that the two most popular candidates will be from the far-left and the far-right – neither, that is, all that appealing in world capitals and supranational bodies.
Delhi presents a different but equally revealing picture. The recent protests in the Indian capital have centred on concerns ranging from electoral processes and public accountability to student issues and public safety. Demonstrations demanding greater transparency and accountability have drawn students, activists, opposition groups and civil-society organisations into the streets. Authorities have responded with restrictions, detentions, and tighter controls on protest locations, including changes to the status of Jantar Mantar, long regarded as a symbolic venue for public dissent.
Democratic countries, as India and France proudly claim to be, should view these protests not merely as disruptions but as signals. A protest is often evidence of a system still functioning, however imperfectly. The greater danger lies not in people taking to the streets, but in the moment they stop believing that anyone is listening.
