DC tunes into desi protest music

Washington has too much on its plate for Donald Trump to worry about 'good friend' Narendra Modi's domestic troubles. Besides, protests and democratic rights are not his thing. Taking their cue, US officials have refrained from formally commenting on the rapid action force called Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and resultant convulsions in Delhi. Just as well. Or CJP would have been branded as 'foreign agents' and dismissed outright.

On Capitol Hill, the US Congress is too distracted and too worried about midterms to look beyond the narrow objective of winning seats. The war on Iran, a broken ceasefire, high gas prices and Trump's unpredictability have created a sea of difficulty for both parties. Republicans can't escape reality, Democrats can't decide how best to exploit it.

But if the Democrats were in power, Indian protests would have evoked a different reaction. Statements from the White House would be de rigueur, the state department would be on overdrive, and letters would have flowed from members of Congress. Even a resolution or two might have surfaced with interest groups in action. GoI should be grateful that Kamala Harris is safely in California, and not in DC.


But lack of official reaction doesn't mean the protests have gone unnoticed. Those who work on South Asia have keenly watched Gen Z take on GoI. Their reaction can be summed up as 'Modi had it coming' - he made too many promises, delivered on too few. 'Students want results, not rhetoric,' said an expert who deals with India policy. 'You have a large population of under 30-year-olds. The government can't sit there and blame Congress Party and [Rahul] Gandhi for the protests. Modi has been in power for 12 years.'

This person went back to Modi's first US visit as PM in 2014 and his speech at Madison Square Garden. Remember when he spoke about democracy, demography and demand? All three Ds are under strain. 'Are there enough good jobs for the young? Is the Ganga clean?'

Indian oligarchs got a special mention as being part of the problem. Democracy is supposed to work for all, but most Indians are struggling. And Modi is struggling to connect with a generation he doesn't have a feel for. The PM's subsequent Instagram video was cited as a prime example.

Admiration for the students has been uniform, and how they managed to force a government not known for humility to back off. But only after everything else had been tried. One analyst was reminded of Churchill's backhanded compliment - 'You can count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else' - that applied in India's case.

Some noted how the protests were 99% peaceful and student leaders cut out the 'middlemen' - politicians and mainstream media - for the most part. Still, BJP tried to make it appear the protesters were violent agitators. Trump uses the same tactics when he calls all protesters 'extreme Left radicals', even though most are hard-working Americans trying to survive.

There's enough expertise among South Asia analysts - barring a few - to recognise that student protests in India can't be compared to those in Nepal or Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, students felt disenfranchised and were rebelling against the entire system. In India, the demands were specific, even if they were pregnant with larger discontent.

A few hundred sympathisers came out in support in NYC and LA for what the organisers called 'solidarity rallies'. Images of police beating protesters in Delhi were a major trigger, as was a general sense of disappointment with the government for which their families back home had voted.

CJP leaders can take a bow for demonstrating to the world how democracy works, one observer said with a tinge of envy. 'If accountability was fashionable once again in America, we'd all be better off.' He went on to list how American democracy has been weakened by the undermining of US institutions, heavy-handed behaviour of ICE agents against illegal immigrants, multiple money-making enterprises of the first family, decimation of Congressional authority, and a Supreme Court that seems to give way to the White House on key questions.