The Lehra Do Tiranga (wave the tricolour) protest at Connaught Place, New Delhi on the evening of Friday (October 16) somehow felt inspiring and ridiculous at the same time. Ridiculous because of the presence of more than 25,000 police and paramilitary forces in Connaught Place, but inspiring because thousands of ordinary citizens young and old came out to wave the tricolour despite the very real possibility of violence and detention.Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) founder Abhijit Dipke and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora were forcibly detained before they even reached Connaught place, (they are released now) but this did not deter thousands from waving the national flag, draping it across their shoulders and marching around Connaught Place. The fact that Central Park was shut down for two days due to “administrative reasons” also did not matter.Aryan, a 20-year-old student standing near Palika Bazaar, asked a pertinent question about the massive police deployment.“Where was this force when Manipur needed it ? A woman is being raped somewhere in India even as we stand here and speak, so why isn’t this force preventing that? Why is it being deployed to try to scare peaceful Indians who simply want to stand with their flag? If the people in power can’t show any accountability, at least they should allow us to ask for that accountability peacefully on the streets.”He also addressed the objection that these protests disrupt business during the festive season.“What about the disruption that this government’s policies are causing in every other corner of the country? Have you stopped to ask why we are protesting? All said and done, the business owners here are established. But the youth of India who have their whole lives ahead of them can’t see any hope for their future under this government. Can’t you see that? And now they aren’t allowed to even wave the tricolour!”An auto rickshaw driver overhearing him added: “Not just the youth, what about people like us? Petrol has become so expensive, but the government is mixing ethanol even in that and then giving us potholes to drive on!”Yash Bhardwaj, a businessman getting angrier by the minute, said: “Stop blaming the youth for protesting. When the prime minister equates making reels with employment, of course they will rebel! Modi ji keeps feeding us all dreams about 2047, but how is this poor rickshaw driver supposed to feed his children today? How??”Interestingly, I met at least four young people who have put their careers on hold to be part of what one of them called “this fight for democracy.”One of them, Vineet, told me he was so tired of making excuses to his IT company in Gurgaon for his absence every time he wanted to attend a protest, he decided to quit his job and become a full-time protestor.Also read: Notes on Democracy For an Undemocratic GovernmentHe said the last three months have been tough as he had to live off his savings and has depleted them helping various causes, such as helping the victims of the Manipur violence, and others. “I have to laugh when people accuse us of receiving foreign funding. If we really were receiving foreign funding then the money in my bank account wouldn’t be down to three digits. We have been beaten and detained, but when it comes to our flag and our democracy, no one can stop us.”I heard a similar story from Jai, a former municipal corporation employee from Gujarat who also quit his job (a government job!) just to be a part of the struggle for democracy. He said: “My friend and I have been in Delhi for a week and we plan to stay here till Gyanesh Kumar resigns! I will do this for a year at least because I don’t want to die with the knowledge that I didn’t do everything I possibly could for my country.”At a time when material success and personal gain are increasingly celebrated as life’s ultimate goals, Jai’s words were moving!His friend, Vihar, also from Gujarat, told me he was once part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but travelling around India and elsewhere opened his eyes to the fact that we are not the vishwagurus Modi claims we are and that we still have a very long way to go as a country. When I asked him if it felt risky to be holding the national flag today, he said: “Millions gave their lives for this flag! How can I not do the same? No other government besides Modi’s has banned the waving of the tricolour. Modi will try every trick in the book now to hang on to power, but do your worst! Beat us, jail us, kill us, but we will not bow before you and you will not stop our voice.”I asked him where he got his courage from. “From Bhagat Singh,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. “He was martyred at age twenty-three. How sad that it will soon be 100 years since his death in 2031 but the India of his dreams has still not materialised. We want to do our bit to make his dream come true. My contribution is to ask questions of this government, and the government’s responsibility is to answer those questions. Nothing will change if we keep quiet and don’t ask questions!” The fact that Central Park was shut down for two days due to “administrative reasons” did not matter to protesters who participated at the Lehra Do Tiranga (wave the tricolour) protest in Connaught Place, New Delhi on October 16, 2026. Photo: Rohit Kumar.Hemlata, an educator who had come to see for herself what was happening said: “These are our children and they are worried about poverty and unemployment. These are educated and smart and not the kind to be swayed by the government’s emotional drama. They value reason and the facts, and the government needs to give them sound logic and reason.”The presence of over 25,000 security personnel in the immediate vicinity at that point, however, did not speak inspire faith in the government’s capacity for logic and reason.As the sun set and police detentions continued, Yari, an artist and teacher from Arunachal Pradesh told me: “I may not be very articulate, but one thing I am very clear about is my love for my country. It is the only thing I want to express here! India is such a large country but there is so much disunity right now, it’s hurting me to be honest. I wasn’t planning to come, but here I am. I want to show you not just the national flag that I have painted but also the words behind it.”She turned the chart with the tricolour over and showed me the words, “Faith, Hope and Love.”Then she said:“…but the greatest of the these is love! If you don’t love your country and if you don’t love one another there will always be disunity. I hope the leaders of the country will love the janta, the people, first and think about themselves later.”Rohit Kumar is an educator and journalist and can be reached at letsempathize@gmail.com