Mixing Politics with Education

It troubled me when 25-30-year-olds told me they don’t like Prime Minister Modi. No, do not get me wrong. I am not troubled by the dislike. But it raised the question that many of them did not have any strong political views or opinions, no in-depth knowledge of the history of India, but yet are so strong in this one statement, why is that? It did not jell together.  

I was further shocked when my friends’ children, neighbours children, all in their mid-twenties to thirties, who never ever spoke about politics, woke up in large numbers to anti-CAA protests in late 2019. Many of my friends’ children wished to join the protests that were being organised/led by some colleges, in the guise of being or supporting ‘secularism’. I shouted out to many of them in WhatsApp groups to not be stupid to let their children, who think that they are fighting for some real cause, get into all of this ‘created’ mess. Let them come out on the streets to fight serious causes of environment degradation or corruption or water scarcity or such issues, if they must.

Fortunately, COVID happened and things quietened down. One weekend in Nov 2021, I went to stay with my school friend in Pune. She has 2 daughters in their early twenties. One had just completed BMM (Bachelor of Mass Media) from a well-known institution in Pune.

My friend, her husband and me were discussing political issues one day and they are both Modi supporters or should I say Bhakts, but their daughter, the BMM graduate, is anti-Modi. I was not surprised at all. I had heard of a few similar cases of daughter and father and their bitter battles over PM Modi. Her father, in heated arguments, would try to explain to her many things, but she was confident or should I say over-confident that PM  Modi was wrong for India.

So I thought let me get into the bottom of this.

I asked her “Why”

She said He creates problems.

What Problems – Hindu, Muslim fights. I want secular India, she said.

Why, who told you that, there are problems being created?

She was hesitant but I kept prodding and then she replied we have guest lecturers that come to our college including those from TV channels and they ‘ALSO” told us. They “ALSO” explained how BJP is driving Hindutva. Well……

From within, she had no strong arguments to offer me. I would have been happy if her education in Mass Media and her reading of the news had led her to having her own opinion which I or her parents would have supported. But the sad part is that it is clear the young minds are being influenced at or by educational institutions and percolating to the entire of their generation.

No wonder the youth today are so perplexed about the country that is India.