The iqbal of the Narendra Modi-led government no longer prevails as is apparent from recent events in the country. The Urdu word “iqbal” has several English synonyms such as aura, prestige, respect, stature or image. The aura and goodwill that the prime minister himself has enjoyed for very long appear to have dissipated. The Gen Z in particular appear to have lost confidence in the government and are expressing their displeasure openly.The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership came to power in 2014 as the masses were disillusioned with the perceived corruption and indecisiveness of the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. They therefore voted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, led by Modi, to power. People believed the promises made by them and harboured expectations that the NDA government would enhance their quality of life, eradicate or rein in corruption, and provide clean administration, besides generating employment opportunities and alleviating poverty.However, a large section of the population, especially the young, now feels betrayed and disappointed with the actual performance of the NDA government. This sense of disappointment has not appeared suddenly. The protests and agitations that we see these days on the streets of India are the result of pent-up feeling of disappointment over the last 12 years.The sense of alienation appears to have been building up right from the time when people had to face extreme inconvenience because of the ill-conceived and unplanned demonetisation in November 2016. The realisation that the public was highly disappointed by the punishing difficulty it had to face during demonetisation forced the prime minister to come on television to plead with the masses to trust his intentions, bear with the difficulty and give him 50 days to show the impact of demonetisation. That was the first sign of weakness displayed by Modi. That appeal and the incessant propaganda through mass media about the desirability of demonetisation, viz. removing black money from the economy and controlling militancy in Kashmir, apparently pacified and convinced the voters about the good intentions of the government, resulting in a landslide victory in the state elections in the Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh and other states in 2017.The 2019 general elections and its aftermathEven though the undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the government’s functioning could be discerned before the general elections of 2019, public opinion probably got swayed by the massive amounts of money spent to create a larger-than-life image of Modi through mainstream media and nonstop propaganda about his real or imagined achievements.Modi and other leaders of the BJP did not hesitate to cynically exploit for electoral gains the tragic massacre of at least 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel by militants in Pulwama on February 14, 2019, and the subsequent surgical strikes by India inside Pakistan, just before the 2019 general elections. The government machinery and mass media were liberally used to project the surgical strikes as proof of Modi being a strong and decisive leader. The election victory for the second term thus became possible due to these factors, and perhaps also because of a feeling among the masses that they might need to be given a second term to fulfil promises, as five years was too short a time to assess their performance.Also read: The Youth Are Rising. Modi Must Answer.The performance during the second term too was lacklustre. The failure to improve the lives of the masses during the term was even more stark. Millions continued to face abject poverty, surviving on a dole of 5 kg of ration per month, while the rich kept getting richer. The unemployment rate remained high and has now risen to around 5% overall (rural unemployment at 4.3% and urban unemployment much higher at 6.8%).The present rate of unemployment among the segment of the population generally referred as Gen Z (age bracket 15–29) is estimated to be as high as 16.2%. This does not take into account the disguised unemployment, especially in the agriculture and informal sectors. The unrestrained proliferation of educational institutions without adequate facilities and infrastructure has led to the phenomenon of youth possessing high qualifications on paper but lacking the requisite skills.These unemployed and underemployed youth are highly dissatisfied with their state of life. Besides this, the issue of leakage of papers for entrance examinations related to higher education and jobs has repeatedly cropped up, leading to a feeling of angst among the youth by the end of the second term of the NDA government in 2024.Farm laws, CAA, Covid and Article 370The repeal of the farm laws after prolonged agitation by farmers in 2020-21 was perhaps the first blow to the iqbal of this government. It established that the Modi government can be compelled to bow to public demand. The minorities, who already felt alienated because of the actions of several Hindu vigilante groups, were further isolated by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, leading to prolonged anti-CAA protests in 2019-2020.The CAA created a feeling among minorities that they will be reduced to second-class citizens within their own country. The riots in Delhi coincided with the end of the CAA protests. Among the 53 killed in these riots, two-thirds were Muslims. This caused further alienation. Many Hindus also feel that the CAA is anti-minority. Questions have also been raised about the reason for the exclusion of Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus from the CAA.Another blow to the image and prestige of the Modi government was caused by its atrocious handling of the Covid pandemic in 2020-21, during which over five lakh people died, according to official estimates. The poor were put to extreme inconvenience by the sudden lockdown and the stoppage of all trains and other means of transport. With all businesses closed and left with no income, they faced a long, arduous walk to their homes, hundreds of kilometres away, leading to several deaths due to the stress and strain of enormous physical effort.The government tried to brazen out these blunders through incessant propaganda in every way possible but could not convince the public to give it a clear mandate for a third term in 2024. Even the efforts to project initiatives like the amendment of Article 370 to end the special status enjoyed by J&K, or the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, failed to impress the voters in the general elections of 2024. These actions, projected as achievements though widely welcomed, did not impact or improve the lives of the masses.Additionally, the aggressive call of “abki baar 400 paar (this time over 400)” also appears to have worked against the BJP, as the electorate, especially minorities and the lower strata of society, feared that if the BJP came back to power with a large majority, it would amend the constitution and end reservations and the secular character of Indian democracy.The BJP thus performed much below its own expectations and ended up with only 240 seats in parliament. It is only with the help of the other constituents of the NDA that a slender majority was achieved and a government headed by the BJP could return to power.The current scenarioIn July, the issue of paper leaks came to the fore after about two dozen students died by suicide following the leak of the NEET paper.Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has been raising this issue on several forums, including his widely attended rallies called “Chhatron ki goonj (Voice of students)”. A group of young individuals who came together as a part of the pressure group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) started protesting at Jantar Mantar, with several activists, including Sonam Wangchuk, going on an indefinite hunger strike demanding the resignation of the Union education minister.The forced removal of Wangchuk, who is rated highly for his scientific achievements, from the protest site led to a mass-scale mobilisation of youth from all over the country. The visuals of the high-handed manner in which the protesters were dealt with by the police further angered the youth across the country. These youths and many others from all strata of society have been openly voicing their dissent against the government, aggressively and often irreverently.An injured protester raises slogans during a protest march, at Sansad Marg, in New Delhi on July 20, 2026. Photo: PTI/Salman Ali.The catchy and sometimes hilarious slogans and memes by Gen Z have become part of the common lexicon and are being freely used to ridicule Modi himself, his cabinet colleagues, and the BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members. The police, who are widely perceived to be blindly following illegal orders and using excessive force against protesters, are also at the receiving end of this ridicule. Gen Z is unafraid and is displaying total irreverence towards Modi. The mood has caught on, and several erstwhile supporters of Modi too appear to be tending to believe the allegations of complicity of government functionaries in paper leaks. They are also now tending to believe that Modi is shielding these shady elements for reasons best known to him.High level of admiration for Modi no moreSome of the sheen was taken off Modi’s reputation when the BJP fell well short of the majority mark in 2024 and had to scramble for support to come to power. Even the legitimacy of the NDA’s slender victory is mired in controversy because of widespread allegations of EVM tampering and voter manipulation.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with other INDIA bloc leaders proceeds in an open bus to protest at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi against the alleged electoral irregularities and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on November 1, 2026. Photo: PTI//Ravi Choudhary.Gandhi held press conferences presenting what he described as credible proof of manipulation in constituencies in Maharashtra and Karnataka. The Election Commission (EC) rejected the allegations without providing explanations for the glaring discrepancies brought out.The allegation of EVM manipulation gains currency because of discrepancies between votes polled and votes counted in several constituencies during the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections. The opaque attitude of the EC in these matters also adds to the suspicion.The month of October witnessed large-scale protests after a report published in The Indian Express highlighted difference of opinion within the EC and dictatorial attitude of the chief election commissioner (CEC). People at large believe that the elections held last year in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra besides the elections in West Bengal this year have been rigged because of the unexpected victory of the BJP against the popular sentiment prevailing amongst the voters.An activist shouts slogans from inside a police vehicle after being detained during a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, in New Delhi on October 23, 2026. Photo: PTI/Karma Bhutia.It is alleged that the EC was resorting to manipulation directly by tempering the database and restricting access to the ground-level Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The opposition parties also claimed that they were not being allowed access to voter lists and the data on voter turnout etc. after the voting. The EC also declined to give video recording of the voting at poll booths citing privacy concerns. Notably, video recordings are important to assess the fairness of the poll process. Inexplicably, the opposition flagged that the voting percentage in many constituencies kept increasing till even a few days after the polling. The vote manipulation issue appears to have reached criticality, and there is a widespread belief among the masses that the elections have actually been manipulated. The opposition’s efforts to spread awareness have made the common man aware of the grave implications of such manipulation for India’s democratic setup. The opposition continues to press on with its campaign spreading the word in every nook and corner through several protest rallies.The defensive reaction of the party in power to these protests, viz. the use of excessive force, the banning of protests, large-scale detentions and the labelling of protesters as anti-national, with no less than the prime minister himself dubbing them “Dimagi Naxal”, has not gone down well with the masses and is inviting ridicule of a kind not seen in the last 12 years. Efforts to depict the call for regime change by some activists as a call for change through violent means were one such attempt to divert attention. This, however, has failed to gain currency.That the BJP is conducting “democracy bachao (Save democracy)” rallies at several places in recent days is ironic because it is the party in power.Modi himself is under quite a lot of pressure because of the disclosure of manipulation. This is apparent from his body language, his public utterances and his personal attacks on opposition leaders in general and Gandhi in particular.While Modi and the government led by him continue to enjoy legal legitimacy, they appear to have lost moral legitimacy.The iqbal that Modi enjoyed in 2014 and through most of the last 12 years has disappeared.Sanjiv Krishan Sood was additional director general of the BSF.