Dealing with discontent, understanding the youth

Neither India nor the world has any fool-proof policy to completely eradicate unemployment. Young people need to be offered a new direction

- Shashi Shekhar

A couple of videos from Leh, Uttarakhand, and Assam that went viral during the last few days got me thinking. All these videos were of angry young people going berserk on the streets. A few months ago, similar videos had surfaced from Manipur where a tense calm prevails now.

Is it a coincidence that discontent against the government is brewing in four border states?

Before dwelling on this question, let me take you back to 1972. After winning the war and breaking Pakistan into two nations, Indira Gandhi was riding a wave of popularity and the country was awash with nationalist fervour. Slighted by US President Richard Nixon, she had cosied up to the erstwhile Soviet Union and signed a friendship treaty with Moscow. The strategic treaty helped to maintain peace on our borders.

Those were the heydays of the Green Revolution and Indira Gandhi missed no opportunity to push the

vision of India as a rising industrial powerhouse. She was at the helm with a brute majority of 352 seats. The Congress was in power in 15 states. Kerala had a CPI-led coalition that included the Congress in office. Due to India’s friendship with the Soviet Union, the CPI had allied with the Congress.

However, what was the outcome of this bonhomie?

The first signs of discontent emerged in Gujarat in 1973 where the Chimanbhai Patel government fell due to a mass movement against unemployment. Within no time, the movement spread to Bihar and other parts of India. Growing youth anger inspired Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974 to call for sampurn kranti (total revolution). Sensing power slipping from her grasp, Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency on June 25, 1975.