A discussion on “New Voice of Resistance, New Hope for Democracy” was organised at IMA Hall, Patna, on August 8 under the banner of the All India People’s Forum (AIPF). Leaders and students who actively participated in the Gen Z movement shared their experiences of the struggle, police repression, the crisis in the education system and the wider assault on democratic rights.
The speakers included AISA Bihar State President Dhananjay, CPI(ML) MLA Dr Sandeep Saurav, students Disha Kumari, Khushboo Kumari and Bhavya Kumari, AISA Vice-President Saba Afreen, Kalidas, Nitish Kumar, advocate Imran, and AIPWA Bihar State Secretary Anita Sinha. The discussion was moderated by AISA leader Saba Afreen, while Punit Pathak delivered the vote of thanks.
Addressing the gathering, Saba Afreen said the movement had exposed the government’s attempts to divide students and suppress their demands. Students had come together and taken to the streets in defence of their rights. The struggle, she said, cannot be reduced to the immediate demands with which it began; it is developing into a broader movement for education reform and will be expanded in the coming days.
She said the government attempted to crush the movement through repression but failed, eventually being forced to concede before the strength of the students’ mobilisation. She described this as a major victory for Gen Z students. Attempts to divide the movement along communal lines had also failed, she added.
Khushboo Kumari, a councillor at Patna Women’s College and participant in the Gen Z movement, said it was deeply revealing that students who spoke about education and the right to study were branded “terrorists” by the government. Yet, after the pressure generated by the movement, the same students were being addressed as “friends” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Students, she said, did not retreat in fear before state repression but confronted it.
Disha Kumari, a student of Patna Women’s College, said the country’s youth now stands before the government and will continue the struggle for an improved education system. She demanded that the government apologise for branding protesting students as “goons” and “terrorists”.
Bhavya Kumari, who was actively involved in the Gen Z movement, highlighted the important role played by social media in mobilising young people. Even school students participated in the movement, she said. The struggle would now also raise the question of reforming school education. She criticised the systematic weakening of government schools while private education is being promoted and said students would oppose this policy.
Nitish Kumar, who came from Jehanabad, and Kalidas, from Chhapra, shared their experiences during the movement and spoke about police repression. Kalidas said that even after his release from jail, the police had not returned his mobile phone and attempts were continuing to harass him through different means. Nitish Kumar said that police firing in Bihar had begun in Jehanabad.
CPI(ML) MLA Dr. Sandeep Saurav said the beginning made by young people in the direction of change was commendable. He said the process of change that began with the demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan would not stop until there was a change in the government. He pointed to serious questions surrounding recruitment processes in Bihar, including police recruitment and BPSC examinations, and said that students and youth would intensify struggles against irregularities and corruption in recruitment. The government is systematically working towards destroying the education system.
AISA Bihar State President Dhananjay said both higher education and school education are in crisis. AISA would intensify the struggle around education and launch a broad campaign across the state. He announced that “Student Parliaments” (Chhatra Sansad) would be organised across Bihar in the coming days to bring students’ problems and questions concerning the education system into wider public debate.
The speakers emphasised that the Gen Z movement has generated a new political consciousness among young people and renewed democratic hope. The struggle around education, employment, transparent recruitment and democratic rights is likely to acquire a broader and more organised form in the coming days.
