The machinations of those wielding State power is not surprising at all after the nationwide youth protest has given them the biggest political scare so far. The standard playbook is out, though it is proving inadequate this time. As usual, Prime Minister Narendra Modi plays the good cop, Amit Shah enacts the bad cop and the RSS boss, Mohan Bhagwat, often intervenes as the benign judge who says all the right things and then lets the status quo prevail. Does this routine sound familiar to you?Journalists and seasoned political analysts have been deceived time and again by this carefully crafted charade of the Sangh parivar, which has created the most brutal edifice of coercive power seen in the last half century.The good cop-bad cop routine is critical to preserve Modi’s image. We all know what it looks like: Whenever a big political crisis hits the NDA government, Modi disappears from the scene and becomes incommunicado for some time. The rest of the ecosystem gets busy with elaborate mechanisms to ring fence the prime minister’s image. The most immediate and urgent task is always to protect the prime minister’s image, which is far more important than addressing the larger crisis itself. Whether it is civil war in Manipur, the prolonged farmers’ agitation, Operation Sindoor, Donald Trump imposing the highest tariffs on India or several lakh GenZ protestors across India threatening to unmask the emperor, the first priority is always to rescue the prime minister.Also read: Who Is the Pappu Now?The GenZ protest at Jantar Mantar followed by the disastrous use of violence, including the horrific use of pellet guns, created a unique crisis for Modi. So the system kicked in to politically insulate Modi.Normally, only Modi enjoys the privilege of going AWOL, even as the rest of the system finds ways to protect his persona. But oddly, this time, even Union home minister Amit Shah, who is supposed to firefight for the prime minister, disappeared and didn’t show his face in parliament for weeks even after Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.This was most unusual because in the past Shah would be leading the campaign to rescue Modi’s image. So what exactly was going on? Why was Shah incommunicado? Has the GenZ shock overwhelmed both No 1 and No 2? These questions are still swirling, as seasoned journalists and political analysts speculate that the prime minister might be unhappy with his home minister for mishandling the protests by using excessive violence.One should be extremely cautious in making such an assessment, as this could also be a part of the good cop-bad cop charade and Shah may be just letting rumours fly that the prime minister was upset with his handling of the protest. By not showing up in parliament, Shah may just be giving the impression of his own guilt only to protect Modi’s image. Mind you, burnishing the prime minister’s image is of paramount importance. Never for a moment lose sight of this imperative. So one could possibly read Shah’s actions in this light rather than be tempted to conclude that there has been some serious disagreement between him and the prime minister. The good cop-bad cop game may well have its creative variations, depending on the nature of the crisis.This crisis is possibly much bigger than any faced by Modi, so we have had the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, too joining the drama by posing as a neutral judge and great sympathiser of GenZ as he urges the world to show understanding and affection to the youth which is sick of the utterly corrupt and self-seeking system controlled tightly by the Sangh parivar.Bhagwat’s call for urgently addressing the students’ grievances against the education system is totally hypocritical, because education is virtually outsourced by Modi to the RSS. Bhagwat cannot pretend to be an outsider here and must be made directly accountable. Just a single example of Jawaharlal Nehru University would suffice to illustrate the sheer destruction wreaked upon such a premier and highly ranked institution by the current dispensation.In any case, Bhagwat can hardly act as a neutral judge as many RSS-backed organisations have been getting hundreds of crores of CSR funds from cash-rich PSUs like ONGC. RSS leaders proudly talk about the practice of receiving modest “gurudakshina” from households as donation some decades ago. That era is over. Now the RSS is in power and receives crores in donation. So Bhagwat is hardly in a position to act as an honest arbiter between the oppressive State and civil society. RSS’s oft-repeated claim that it always worked with “samaj” (society) and not for “satta” (power) rings totally hollow today.Also read: Education, Freedom and the Sangh ParivarWe must also recall how after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP fell short of a clear majority, Bhagwat had sought to criticise Modi in a veiled fashion for using highly polarising and divisive rhetoric during the campaign. He also said the opposition parties should not be treated like enemies. Earlier this week, Bhagwat made a cutting remark that you don’t become a real leader by just giving speeches and winning elections.The RSS chief has been making the right noises from time to time. But this has made absolutely no difference to the attitude or behaviour of this manipulative and coercive regime. The RSS is fully complicit in this elaborate and Machiavellian interface between the good cop, bad cop and the “sympathetic” judge. GenZ has also fully understood this.