THE EMERGENCE OF "NEW POLITICAL" IN INDIA

" IF YOU DO NOT INTERFERE IN POLITICS , POLITICS WILL EVENTUALLY INTERFERE IN YOUR LIFE "

                                                                    - VLADIMIR LENIN 

 

 Aathmeeya Anil 

 

                               One can reasonably argue that contemporary India is experiencing an increasingly political moment.Across the country,protests and social movements have gained unprecedented public attention,influencing political discourse in ways that extends beyond electoral politics .One of the most striking feature of these movements is the active participation of Gen Z , increasingly Gen Alpha.These generations were often portrayed by the mainstream media as politically apathetic or disengaged.But were these generations truly apolitical over the past decade ?If so,what explains this sudden rupture in political  engagement?More importantly,is this transformation merely a temporary response to current events,or does it represent the emergence of a new and enduring political consciousness in India ?

 The Narrative of Apolitical "Gen Z"

Being political in a democracy is often misunderstood as simply voting in elections once every five years.Although voting is an essential part of a democracy, politics is much more than casting a ballot.To understand what it truly means to be political ,we must look beyond elections and examine places where public life is shaped every day - such as grassroots movements ,universities ,student organizations, civil society ,the media and public discussions .It is in these spaces that people express their views ,debate ideas , take collective action , and influence society .

Rigid ideological orientations have traditionally been considered the foundation of political life.Individuals identified themselves as socialists, conservatives,liberals,communists,or nationalists and these identities were not merely political labels but ways of understanding the world.Political parties functioned as representatives of these ideological traditions,and electoral competition was,to a large extent, a contest between competing visions of a society. In this period,ideological consistency was often regarded as a political virtue.However,the emergence of postmodernism challenged rigid ideological commitments.Jean- François Lyotard argued that contemporary societies were characterized by an "incredulity toward meta  narratives "- a growing  scepticism towards universal ideological systems that claimed to provide a single explanation of society and history.Consequently,political identities became increasingly fragmented ,rigid ideological commitments gradually gave away to more flexible and issue - based forms of political engagement .This transformation was particularly visible among younger generations. Unlike previous generations, whose political identities were often shaped through long-term engagement with political parties, trade unions, or ideological organizations, many young people today encounter politics through digital media, social movements, and specific public issues. Their political participation is therefore less likely to be anchored in a single comprehensive ideology.

This shift can also be observed within traditional political parties. For example, many communist parties historically placed great emphasis on systematic ideological education through party classes, study circles, and the collective reading of Marxist literature. Such practices were intended not only to educate members but also to cultivate ideological discipline and a shared political worldview. While these practices continue in some contexts, their influence appears to have declined compared with earlier decades. Party mobilisation today often competes with the rapid flow of information through social media, shorter attention spans, and issue-based political participation, making sustained ideological training more difficult than before. So the point is that the lens through which the younger generation was viewed was much older than the generation itself. Political engagement was measured through traditional markers such as ideology, party membership and elections. Since younger people often engaged with politics differently, they were easily labelled as apolitical or disengaged.

Rupture and Sustainability of Gen Z Movements 

We live in an era where even political scientists are witnessing narratives that would have seemed unusual a few decades ago. A fan club can suddenly transform into a political force around a cult personality, while a social-media platform can rapidly gather thousands of followers around a common frustration. The rupture can happen almost overnight. What brings young people together today may therefore be less about a fixed political ideology  and more about a shared sense of frustration and the search for a way out.

"Politics as a way out "can be a source of hope, but it can also become dangerous. The participation of young people in the CJP movement is certainly laudable, particularly for bringing together a generation in opposition to authoritarian tendencies. It showed that young people who were often described as apolitical could, in fact, mobilise rapidly when they found an issue that reflected their frustrations.But politics built primarily around frustration can also develop mob tendencies. When people come together mainly because they want a way out, rather than around a clear political vision, the collective can easily begin searching for someone who promises that way out. History has repeatedly shown how such frustrations can create space for a charismatic or "mob" leader. The challenge, therefore, is to transform frustration into political consciousness rather than allowing it to become merely collective anger.

The decision of CJP to remain a pressure group is also laudable. Rather than following the traditional path of becoming another political party and directly seeking power, it has chosen to remain a democratic pressure group. Its real potential, however, lies in its ability to create a broader umbrella for different organisations and political currents, including groups such as SFI, AISA and others. Whether such an umbrella can remain active, democratic and sustainable is something only time will tell. But if it succeeds in bringing different organisations together around common democratic concerns, it could represent a different form of political mobilisation.

THE SCOPE OF NEW POLITICAL IN INDIA

Politics changes with society, and therefore the lens through which we understand politics must also change. The traditional political lens may have suited the needs of an earlier generation, but it no longer fully explains the political behaviour and aspirations of today's youth.

The emergence of movements such as CJP and the growing number of youth-led protests can be understood, in part, as a consequence of the failure of traditional political parties to engage meaningfully with the younger generation. Political parties have often continued to rely on established narratives, organisational structures and conventional methods of political communication, while failing to adequately address the changing concerns, aspirations and language of young people. When existing political institutions fail to provide spaces for young people to express these concerns, political mobilisation inevitably begins to emerge outside traditional party structures.

The rise of Gen Z's political participation, and even the emerging mobilisation of Gen Alpha around basic needs such as teachers and school infrastructure, offers a sense of hope. These developments suggest that younger generations are not politically apathetic; rather, they may be dissatisfied with the existing forms through which politics is organised and communicated. Their participation sends a clear message to political parties: when established institutions fail to listen, young people will find alternative spaces to make themselves heard.

Therefore, the emergence of movements like CJP should not simply be viewed as an isolated phenomenon. It can also be seen as a symptom of a larger crisis in the relationship between traditional political organisations and the younger generation. The question before Indian politics is no longer whether young people are political, but whether existing political institutions are capable of adapting to their new political consciousness or whether the failure to do so will continue to produce new forms of politics outside the traditional political system.