sIndian democracy has witnessed significant changes over the past decade. Alongside shifts in the party system, electoral politics, and institutional governance, one of the most striking political changes has been the emergence of a new political culture of protest. The wave of protests that India has seen in the recent past indicates the emergence of a new sense of democratic citizenship asserted by the youth. The youth have carved out their own ethos, norms, and organizational functioning during these protests without doing away with existing forms of political articulation. Be it Jantar Mantar, Fatehpur, Ranchi, Allahabad, Patna, Jaipur, or other parts of the country, protests are no longer isolated political activities traditionally carried out by professional politicians, political parties, civil society actors, or those labeled “andolanjeevis.” These are independent political acts performed by the Indian youth.Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.This series of protests asserts a new political norm across the country. This new norm is not merely about rights or an articulation of a few grievances or demands as popularly projected. Rather, they are about a much larger claim: the claim to have a dignified life, dignified conduct, and dignified treatment. It is this collective and individual notion of dignity that shapes this new youth political behaviour. They emerge from a sense of anxiety stemming from unfair exams, attacks on women’s dignity, lack of toilets in the school, absence of roads and classrooms, or job-related uncertainties. Yet, what motivates them is a unique underlying belief that they deserve a more dignified life than what they have received from the system so far.Besides, this belief is not only about asserting rights but also about a sense of obligation and responsibility to speak in a democracy. Protests are increasingly seen as a civic duty that the new generation wants to perform, either through physical participation, if possible, or through a virtual presence by tagging others, reposting reels, or using hashtags. The youth, primarily Gen Z but not limited to it, view protests as a form of political action against events they consider unfair and unjust. Dignified life, in this sense, is about speaking out against injustice, both individually and collectively.The protests, in other words, aren’t merely demands that may appear bureaucratic or material, focused on securing tangible benefits from the state through policy interventions. Instead, they are motivated by a collective sense of dignity, based on what is unjust and unfair within the present governance paradigm. The definition of these two political categories is not determined by preconceived ideological notions of justice and fairness. They are rather asserted as lived experiences of those who participate in these protests.These protests are more of a kind of prefigurative politics, a form of politics, as defined by Carl Boggs, where protesters are not merely resisting but also focusing on means. Indian youth have shown their political judgment by distinguishing between what is right to do in a protest and what is not. This sense of right and wrong is not only about the event but also about how public life should be performed. For instance, there is a consensus that violence is not a desirable form of protest. Protests have been carried out in good faith and trust in the institutions and the system that they aim to question. The response of the young protesters to state actions or police brutality has also been felicitous. It has not been motivated by an immediate sense of anger or spontaneous reaction as it could have been. Despite state provocation or media influence, the youth have shown restrained political behaviour during protests. Above all, unlike the protests of the 1990s, the contemporary protests neither claim nor attempt to challenge the state or system in a structural sense. The challenge is confined only to a specific state action or inaction.In this image posted on Oct. 15, 2026, Police personnel detain parents of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, who was murdered in Uttarakhand in 2022, while protesting near India Gate against Dushyant Kumar Gautams appointment as Sikkim governor, in New Delhi. Photo: X/INCIndia.Besides, what sets these protests apart is the method of political communication they have adopted. The methods are not delinked from the kind of politics the youth want to assert. Political philosopher José Medina defines protest as a communicative resistance against injustice in the public sphere. The idea of communication is central here. Communication in resistance occurs through various modes of action and performance. This new form of youth protest politics is based upon adopting diverse means of communication that are qualitatively different from those that existed even as recently as the last decade. I have categorized them as hybrid forms elsewhere. These means of communication include, but are not limited to, memes, videos, cartoons, and reels, as well as traditional methods such as placards, banners, posters, and flags.Many powerful sightsMore importantly, these modes are not merely performances against state action. They also attempt to address social conscience and to shape a youth imagination of what democracy must look like. The protesters didn’t deliver calculated or prescribed political statements like party spokespersons do. Their responses were random, quick, innovative, and yet very sensible. They raised demands and concerns beyond gender binaries, regional differences, or even class divisions. Students, including boys, crying in front of the camera while demanding their due is an unusual but very powerful sight. The contemporary protests are a mix of gender sensitisation, queer consciousness, student protests, the assertion of Gandhian Satyagraha, and a display of civic consciousness in how protest sites were managed. Besides, shaming the police system was a unique way of resisting.A question that is usually posed: What did these protests achieve? Apart from a tangible outcome, the protests in the recent past have achieved what Medina calls epistemic activism: activism aimed at generating social awareness, knowledge formation, and mobilisation through one’s own sense of speaking for justice and against prevailing forms of injustice. These protests, in this sense, come closer to the Gandhian idea of Satyagraha.These protests have also revealed the limitations of traditional political actors, i.e., the state apparatus and political parties. The state machinery led by the BJP and its party apparatus appeared clueless about the protest and how to handle it. Its political machinery operated in three ways: first, denial; second, suppression; and third, damage control through negotiations. The three measures came one after the other without bearing any fruit. In this sense, the protests did create a political surprise. However, it was a surprise for the opposition parties as well. The protests were also testimony to the fact that none of the opposition parties were able to grasp the seriousness of the issue, which was becoming an increasingly pressing issue and a major political hotspot.This new protest culture demonstrates people’s belief in India’s democracy, constitution, and its institutions. This trust spans across regions, identities and age groups. These protests are also a sign of a politically active citizenry willing to challenge the government, despite the state owning a massive machinery of coercion and being willing to use it in any form. Yet, it is the responsibility of political parties, which are considered custodians of liberal constitutional democracy, to regain the youth’s trust and ensure that they receive the dignified life they deserve in the 21st century. These protests should be seen as a wake-up call for the parties.Sudhir Kumar Suthar teaches at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU, and has authored a few books, including one on the farmer protests.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.