Kashish Rawat travelled to New Delhi on Saturday to join a protest without informing her parents.
When the 22-year-old economics student arrived in the Indian capital, she found the streets transformed, with metal barricades blocking roads and police cracking down on young demonstrators. Officers beat some protesters, dragged others into buses and chased away the rest.
Demonstrators recorded the police action on their phones, and the videos quickly spread across social media.
The crackdown was aimed at preventing mostly young Indians from gathering to protest against a revision of voter lists that they say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. But it did not stop Rawat, who remained on the streets until evening while trying to stay out of the reach of police.
“We are not going anywhere. We will come back again and make our voices heard,” she said.
Protests led by India’s “Cockroach” youth movement intensified earlier this month over an ongoing review of voter lists that has removed more than 130 million names since last year.
Critics say the exercise is politically motivated and risks disenfranchising millions more people. They have called for the resignation of Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar.
The Election Commission, however, says the review is necessary to eliminate duplicate and ineligible entries.
Modi has not publicly commented on the protests. Some leaders of his party have dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchists” and suggested, without providing evidence, that foreign powers are backing them.
The dispute has struck at the core of Indian democracy — the right to vote. It has also raised questions about whether a generation that grew up under Modi, who has served as prime minister for more than 12 years, can turn its growing disillusionment into a sustained challenge to his Hindu nationalist government.
“I don't see him as almighty,” Rawat said of Modi. “I see him as someone who we have elected. So I don't understand the reason why we should be scared of questioning that guy.”
A test for India’s democratic institutions
India’s democratic institutions have faced growing pressure under Modi, with critics accusing his government of weakening checks on executive power, restricting dissent and targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims. Press freedom organisations have also expressed concern over pressure on independent media.
The government rejects these allegations, maintaining that the country’s institutions remain strong and that law enforcement agencies act against violations of the law rather than dissent.
For many young Indians, however, institutions they grew up trusting have failed to live up to their promises. They describe a political environment increasingly hostile to dissent, where challenging those in power can expose people to harm.
The voter list controversy has intensified these frustrations, providing a common cause for a generation already dissatisfied with the political system.
Earlier this summer, protesters forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister, offering a rare example of street demonstrations leading to political change. The mobilisation has since reflected a broader wave of youth-led protests in other countries, particularly in South Asia, where Generation Z demonstrators have challenged established political elites.
For 19-year-old student Maya Ribeiro, the voter list controversy has raised concerns about a democratic right she had previously taken for granted.
Ribeiro, a sociology student, joined Saturday’s demonstration with two friends. She said they had registered to vote because they considered participation in a democracy both a right and a responsibility.
The prospect of more names being removed from voter lists, however, has left her worried that the right to vote cannot be taken for granted. She said the controversy had made the fight over the electoral process more urgent.
“When we talk about the institution of voting, it is an important institution, but it is an institution that needs to be cleansed,” Ribeiro said.
Police crackdown fuels anger among young protesters
The extensive police crackdown has given young Indians another reason to protest, demonstrators said, describing the response to a planned rally as disproportionate in a democracy.
Aryan Kajaniya, a 21-year-old philosophy student, said the dispute reflected wider disillusionment among young people with the country’s political system.
He said he and other protesters were increasingly uncertain about how to exercise their right to freedom of expression when authorities could restrict gatherings and detain demonstrators.
“People are actively trying to gather more information about what's going on in the capital. They are joining in from different cities, but the system is actively trying to suppress us,” he said.
The movement’s influence extends beyond those taking part in street demonstrations. Many protesters said they did not identify with any particular organisation or political party but were motivated by shared concerns.
Ribeiro said discussions among friends, debates at home and exchanges on social media had transformed private frustrations into collective action.
After years of feeling powerless, the protests have given young Indians like her a renewed sense of political agency, they said.
That change was evident during the “Cockroach” protests earlier this summer, when demonstrators broke a longstanding taboo by openly mocking Modi.
“I do believe that we are at a point where we have been so disillusioned that we are now more resilient than ever,” Ribeiro said.
Challenging Modi will require more than street protests
Mounting a sustained challenge to Modi, an established figure in Indian politics for more than a decade, will be difficult. His Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has built a formidable electoral organisation, while opposition parties have struggled to turn previous public discontent into a lasting nationwide challenge.
The youth protests have yet to develop into a coherent political alternative. For many demonstrators, however, creating space to question the government has itself become a struggle, one that has carried personal costs.
Rawat said politics had become a recurring source of tension within her family. She believes her parents’ views have been influenced by television coverage sympathetic to Modi’s party, and disagreements have sometimes led her to stop speaking to relatives.
“I do still try my best to have a conversation with them, but I have been failing so far,” she said.
For Ribeiro, the key question is whether young Indians can transform their anger into a sustained movement demanding transparency and accountability.
She said the protests had helped young people recognise that their voices could make a difference.
“I think for the first time in a very long time … I have felt a sort of renewed belief in what democracy can do,” Ribeiro said.