Protesting does not make youth ‘anti-national’, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says at student event

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat told an audience of more than 2,000 students, most aged between 15 and 20, on Thursday said that youngsters who protest are not “anti-nationals”.

The RSS is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking at an event at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Centre in Mumbai, Bhagwat said that the grievances of the youngsters were genuine and reflected shortcomings in the education system.

“If the Gen Z is agitating, they certainly are not anti-nationals,” NDTV quoted Bhagwat as saying. “They are our own people, our next generation.”

He said that while previous generations did as told, the “Gen Z and Gen Alpha want logical answers”.

“Gen Z” refers to persons born between the late 1990s and 2010. “Gen Alpha” are persons born between 2010 and 2024.

Bhagwat’s comments come after nationwide student protests last month led to the resignation of BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister on July 25. That prompted the RSS to launch a youth outreach campaign.

The protests against alleged mismanagement of several competitive examinations had begun on June 6, when the Cockroach Janta Party political campaign staged a demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to demand that Pradhan resign.

On July 20, thousands joined the protest. This came two days after the police forcibly took activist Sonam Wangchuk,...

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