After Bangladesh and Nepal, the so-called Gen Z revolution has now reached India. After the NEET paper leak and the remarks made by CJI Surya Kant on youth, a series of developments unfolded. The Cockroach Janta Party campaign, started online by Abhijit Depke from the United States, gained momentum, its social media following increased rapidly, and it soon reached New Delhi to organize PEACEFUL PROTEST. Sonam Wangchuk then joined the movement and went on a hunger strike for more than 20 days. Many well-known people from political and non-political backgrounds supported the movement. Prakash Raj, Mahua Moitra, Shabana Azmi and Arvind Kejriwal visited Sonam Wangchuk to express their support, while many other prominent personalities also extended solidarity.

The campaign culminated with the “Sansad Chalo” march on 20 July 2026, coinciding with the beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Although permission for the march had not been granted, neither meaningful dialogue between the protesters and the government nor decisive police action to prevent the situation from escalating appeared to take place beforehand. Later, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and others joined the movement. As of today, Mehbooba Mufti and many other well-known political leaders, public figures, and citizens are also expressing their support online, further amplifying the campaign.

What unfolded that day was heartbreaking. It was painful to see fellow Indians treating one another as enemies. We witnessed stone-pelting, tear gas filling the air, lathi charges, damage to public property, and injuries to students, protesters, and police personnel alike. At the end of the day, both the police and the protesters are citizens of the same country. They belong to the same society, pay taxes, raise families, and dream of a better future. Yet they are standing face to face, attacking one another, while those making decisions remain safe, far away from the protest. The real issue is not People vs. Government. It is always System vs. System, while ordinary citizens are caught in the middle.

Yes, the issues are real. Lakhs of honest students spent years preparing for competitive examinations, only to see their trust shaken. Their frustration is understandable. Every student deserves a fair education and examination system, and every parent deserves confidence that merit—not corruption—determines success.

Following the controversy, the affected students appeared for the re-examination, and the Union Education Minister announced that from the following year, the examination would be conducted in a computer-based format to improve transparency. Yet, the protests continued.

Was everyone participating actually a student?

If large protests are organized in the name of students, shouldn’t there be a proper verification process? Were student identity cards checked before people joined the demonstrations? Were the organizers able to distinguish genuine students from outsiders? These are reasonable questions that deserve transparent answers. There have also been allegations from some students that they were pressured or threatened by student leaders or individuals within colleges and universities to participate in the protests. If such allegations are true, they deserve an independent and impartial investigation. No student should ever be compelled to participate in any political activity against his or her will.

Who Organized Such a Massive Gathering?

When the protests began, several well-known public figures became associated with the movement. There were calls for students from across the country to gather in New Delhi. Sonam Wangchuk was expected to participate but was forecefully admited in the hospital. Abhijit Dipke also became associated with the campaign. As the demonstrations grew, thousands of people assembled in the national capital. Was everything planned from the beginning? Who was really benefiting from the prolonged conflict?

This raises several important questions that every citizen has the right to ask:

• Who were all those people?
• Were they all genuine NEET students?
• Were student identity cards verified?
• How many of those present were actually affected by the examination?
• Who coordinated such a massive gathering?
• Who arranged transportation, accommodation, food, and other logistics?
• Where did the funding come from?
• If authorities knew that such a large gathering was expected, why was there no prior intelligence assessment or preventive planning?

These are legitimate questions that deserve clear and transparent answers in any democracy.

There have also been reports and allegations that individuals or groups unrelated to the original student movement entered the protests and allegedly engaged in stone-pelting, vandalism of public property, and actions that escalated clashes with the police. If outsiders deliberately attempted to hijack a peaceful student movement and turn it violent, they should be identified through evidence and prosecuted under the law.

At the same time, accountability cannot be one-sided. Serious allegations have also been made against sections of the police. Videos circulating on social media have led many people to question whether excessive force was used in certain situations. There have also been allegations that damaged vehicles, broken glass, or other scenes were presented in ways that justified stronger police action. They require a thorough investigation so that responsibility is fixed wherever the facts lead.

Police personnel were without name plates, some behaved inappropriately toward peaceful protesters, including female students. If any officer exceeded legal authority or harassed citizens, appropriate action must be taken. A democratic society cannot demand accountability only from one side while ignoring misconduct on the other. Violence, regardless of who commits it, weakens democracy. Police officers are public servants working under the authority of the government, and they are expected to carry out lawful orders. However, they also have a constitutional responsibility to protect citizens and respect their rights. Likewise, citizens have every right to protest peacefully, but they do not have the right to attack police officers, destroy public property, or spread violence.

Watching citizens hit police with stones and watching police use force against citizens is equally painful. Neither side truly wins. Families suffer, careers are affected, public trust declines, and society becomes more divided.

Unfortunately, politics often turns every crisis into an opportunity for votes. Every side tries to own the narrative. Every side claims to be protecting students. But after the cameras disappear, students continue preparing for the next examination while political battles move on to the next issue. Many of the influential people leading these debates have secure careers, financial stability, and, in many cases, children studying or settled abroad. The ordinary citizens who are studying here are the one who suffers the consequences of every institutional failure.

Let’s look at them and their families:

• Dharmendra Pradhan‘s daughter Naimisha Pradhan The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, US
• Amit Shah‘s son Jay Shah, ICC
• Rahul Gandhi, Trinity College, UK
• Priyanka Vadra‘s daughter Raihan Vadra, SOAS University in London, Miraya Vadra, University in Scotland, UK
• Akhilesh Yadav‘s daughter Aditi Yadav, University College London, UK
• Sonam Wangchuk‘s son Aryan Wangchuk, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, USA
• Abhijeet Dipke, Boston University, US
• Ashutosh Ranka, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
• Mahua Moitra. Mount Holyoke College, US
• Mehbooba Mufti, daughters Iltija Mufti, University of Warwick, UK

The list goes on. Many politicians, bureaucrats, and senior government officials who speak about improving India’s education system have their own children studying abroad. Yet they expect ordinary Indian students to remain dependent on the same system they themselves choose not to trust for their own families. That raises an important question: if they have so little confidence in the system for their own children, why should everyone else? It is worth thinking about who is really behind these so-called Gen Z revolutions and what interests they ultimately serve.

Not only the paper leak the education system itself is a symptom of a much larger problem. Even if one Education Minister resigns, what guarantees that another paper leak will not happen under the next minister? Simply replacing one individual without reforming the system does not solve the underlying issue. If institutions remain weak, corruption can continue regardless of who occupies the office.

What is needed is not just a change of individuals, but a change in accountability. Stronger legal safeguards, strict punishment for those involved in examination fraud, greater institutional transparency, and mechanisms such as a Right to Recall for an Education Minister in cases of proven gross negligence or repeated institutional failure—subject to appropriate constitutional and legal safeguards—should all be part of the public discussion. Only meaningful systemic reforms can restore the trust of students and reduce the likelihood of such incidents recurring.

This is exactly how systems operate. The common people become the face of the conflict while those sitting at the top remain untouched. Political leaders, protest organizers, influential activists, and powerful decision-makers rarely stand where the tear gas falls or where the lathis are swung. Cases may exist against many public figures across the political spectrum, yet they continue with security and influence, while ordinary citizens are the ones arrested, injured, or left with criminal records. The burden almost always falls on the common person.

Today, everything is presented as People vs. Government. But is that really the truth? Or is it one system fighting another system? Political systems, ideological systems, media systems, institutional systems, and influence networks all compete for power, narratives, and public support. In that battle, the common citizen often becomes a tool. Some groups may receive support from internal political systems, while others may receive support from external system. Some may be influenced by right-wing ideologies, others by left-wing ideologies, and some by more extreme positions. Every side claims to represent the people, but every side also seeks influence, power, and control. The ordinary citizen rarely knows who is funding whom, who is directing what, or what the larger objective may be. Whether those systems are domestic or foreign, political or ideological, public or private, insiders or outsiders, ordinary citizens often do not have complete information.

This does not mean every protester has bad intentions or every police officer acts wrongly. Most people on both sides are ordinary citizens. A police constable is someone’s son or daughter. A protesting student is also someone’s son or daughter. Both belong to the same country. Yet they are pushed into confrontation while those who benefit from the conflict remain far away from the streets. The people fight; the systems negotiate.

When the internal system fails to address the concerns of its people, external systems may try to take advantage of the situation by exploiting those issues for their own interests.

That is why demanding only the resignation of the Education Minister is not enough. There is no real solution in simply changing one individual. Today, people demand one minister’s resignation. Tomorrow, another minister may take office, and if the same institutional weaknesses remain, another paper leak can occur. Will we continue demanding resignations every few years while the underlying problem remains unresolved?

India needs systemic accountability, not merely political accountability. There should be strict legal responsibility for examination authorities. If an examination paper leak occurs because of corruption or negligence, the officials responsible should face criminal prosecution, financial penalties, dismissal from service where legally appropriate, and permanent disqualification from holding similar positions where provided by law. Independent investigations should be mandatory. Stronger examination security, digital safeguards, transparent audit systems, and institutional accountability must become permanent features of the examination process.

Public debate should also consider mechanisms such as a Right to Recall for ministers or public representatives in situations involving proven gross negligence or repeated institutional failure, subject to constitutional and legal safeguards. The objective should not be political revenge but institutional accountability. Unless laws create real consequences for systemic failures, paper leaks and similar scandals may continue regardless of who occupies the minister’s chair. We should stop focusing only on changing faces and start demanding reforms that strengthen the entire system.

This is why citizens must think independently. Before joining any movement, ask difficult questions. Who is organizing it? Who is funding it? What is the final objective? Is it genuinely seeking reform, or is it also serving political interests? Who benefits if the situation escalates? These questions are not anti-government, anti-opposition, or anti-protest. They are pro-democracy because democracy requires informed citizens, not emotional crowds. The saddest reality is that public trust in many institutions has weakened. Whether political, bureaucratic, educational, ideological, or administrative, failures and corruption have made many citizens lose confidence. Different systems compete with one another for influence, while ordinary people often stand in the middle.

The biggest question remains:

Who protects the common citizen?

Perhaps the only thing an ordinary citizen can truly do is stay informed, think critically, refuse to become a pawn in someone else’s battle, and demand long-term institutional reforms instead of temporary political spectacles. Systems will always try to influence public opinion because power depends on public support. Whether that influence comes through politics, ideology, money, fame, social media, or other means, citizens should remain vigilant and make informed decisions.

India does not need citizens fighting citizens. It needs institutions that are transparent, accountable, efficient, and trustworthy. The battle should never be between students and police, or between people and the government. The real challenge is fixing institutions so that they serve the people rather than fail them.

There should also be a rule requiring the children of all political leaders, bureaucrats, and government officials—whether at the state or central level—to study in government schools, colleges, and universities. If policymakers and public officials had a direct stake in the quality of public education, they would have a stronger incentive to improve it. Many people argue that the public should demand greater accountability in strengthening the education system, rather than accepting unequal standards.

However, the people who truly speak the truth, challenge the system, or fight for real change are often silenced, shadow-banned, or discredited because they threaten those in power. If someone is seen as a serious threat to their interests, they may be eliminated—politically, socially, or even physically. Those in power often prefer people who blindly follow orders rather than think critically. That’s one reason many believe our education system still fails to encourage independent thinking and questioning.

The thing is, who benefits from this? The system behind it does.

They know that many students and people are going to gather through intellegence. In first place why there was no proper invstigation, when he came from abroad and no one has stopped him. Everything happened without permission for more than 20 days, yet no action was taken. But on the final day, the main people were not there. Only a few students came, and most people don’t even know how they got there. Very few were genuine. Now, it creates fear among young people who want to do activism, fight for what is right, speak the truth, or question the government. They have shown that they are willing to use every possible method to silence them. The goal is to discourage future activists and anyone who wants to speak up. They want to plant fear in people’s minds so they start believing that protests are just a waste of time and that nothing ever changes because of them.

It’s Always Been System Vs System, Not People Vs Government

Many people are blidly supporting this cause, remember, do not become a puppet in someone else’s struggle for money, power, fame, political influence, or position. Think for yourself. Question every narrative, regardless of who presents it. Verify facts before believing or sharing them. Stay informed, stay aware, and make decisions based on reason rather than emotion, pressure, or propaganda. Educate yourself, your family members. The consequences of conflict are usually borne by ordinary citizens—not by those who encourage or benefit from it. A strong democracy depends on citizens who think independently, ask difficult questions, reject blind allegiance, and demand accountability from every institution and every side.

The next time you support a movement or a cause, remember: it is often System vs. System, not simply People vs. Government. Support causes thoughtfully, think independently, and avoid becoming a pawn in someone else’s power struggle.

Kyun ki, Jo dikhta hai vo hota nhi aur jo hota hai vo dikhta nhi the issues are real but the systems take advantage of that rather than finding solutions. So, the common citzen of the country gets nothing.

George Carlin’s words feel just as relevant today—it’s the same everywhere.

“
There’s a reason that education sucks.
And it’s the same reason
that it will never ever, ever be fixed.

It’s never going to get any better,
don’t look for it,
be happy with what you got.

They don’t want a population
of citizens capable of critical thinking.
They don’t want well-informed, well-educated people,
capable of critical thinking.

You know what they want?
They want obedient workers.
People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork
and just dumb enough, to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs,
with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits...

“