On the streets of Brooklyn, in the bluest district in New York, one of the USA’s bluest (Democrat) states, there is a sullen silence over the deaths of three more American soldiers in President Donald Trump’s unnecessary and unwinnable war against Iran, at the behest of Israel. For 10 nights, sites outside Tehran were bombarded. Here, the streets are quiet; for all their “hi-how-are-you”—even strangers on an elevator—people do not talk about the war. Perhaps it is not near enough to impinge on their daily routines. Commentary is restricted to online echo chambers.
It was thus quite the surprise to see, on July 20, crowded student protests led by the Cockroach Janata Party, whose name is derived from a sneering comment by the Chief Justice of India. He now owns it. No wonder he told petitioners trying to bring the court’s attention to police violence against students: “Don’t waste my time.”
The students came from the city and the countryside. The next day they were joined by fellow students in cities around India. The electronic media called them “leftists” and “anti-nationals”; regime supporters called for suppressing the protests with an iron hand. Home Minister Amit Shah even saw a Pakistan hand. When you are across the planet, such suspicions sound patently absurd, not sinister.
Fortunately, the foreign media covered the protests extensively. “Bloodied but unbowed”, TheNew York Times headline declared. Videos on social media showed the Delhi Police’s brutality towards students, even against schoolgirls in uniform and with backpacks.
Delhi Police put out a couple of Goebbelsian posts denying any violence. Seventy-five students admitted to RML hospital? Police denied that, too. Perhaps Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not care what the world thinks and wants the world to know that he does not care what it thinks.
On July 21, nine-and-a-half hours behind Delhi, one saw the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka sitting outside Modi’s house on dharna (a non-violent sit-in protest or demonstration). He has been consistent on raising the issue of the exam leaks, and now the brutal attack on students, witnessed by the entire world, prompted him to raise the stakes by asking for Modi’s resignation, rather than just Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s. A photo of Rahul Gandhi being carried away by all limbs flashed across the globe.
Commentators around the world declared that these protests reminded them of the Gen Z movement in Kathmandu to dislodge the Nepalese government, and of the Aragalaya in Sri Lanka over four years ago, the Gen Z uprising that forced out the Rajapaksa family. Personally, one should be wary of such comparisons. India is far larger than Nepal, and Amit Shah is the most ruthless man in South Asia, perhaps on par with Field Marshal Asim Munir.
It is commonly accepted that Modi does not sack his Ministers, etc., because, one, he’s the one taking all the decisions, so he can’t blame it on anyone else; and two, to sack someone would be admitting that he is no God-King, transcending all earthly matters, which he likes to believe himself. Instead, he said exam leaks were a national problem, like poverty or the slow wheels of justice, things for which he can’t be bothered or blamed.
The education question
It is a matter of education, which Modi, for some personal reason, doesn’t give much importance to. Trump is another authoritarian who does not think much of state-funded education (in America, conservatives don’t want their children to learn alongside minority students).
In New York City (NYC), however, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has expanded his political capital by focussing on education, much like Rahul Gandhi. His signature policy is universal childcare, which starts at six weeks, and kindergarten for two-year-olds. He has advocated more mental health services in schools, smaller classrooms, stronger after-school activities, and support for disabled students. Along with affordability, relating to rent-stabilisation, etc., his educational initiatives have been his most popular.
Such is Mamdani’s political strength that he relishes his role as Trump’s “worst nightmare”. Last week, he told The Times he would act on an International Criminal Court warrant and arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who may visit New York for the United Nations General Assembly in September. This put him on a collision course with Trump, who said the Mayor had no power to arrest Netanyahu. Mamdani has conceded the point but not backed down; he said the federal government should arrest Netanyahu. Having lately endorsed winning candidates in NYC’s Democratic primary, Mamdani has the wind at his back.
Trump, on the other hand, faces a sulking electorate that did not want another endless West Asia war. It’s clear to everyone that Trump lacks any exit from the war with Iran. He wants unconditional surrender, which is a fantasy. On top of that, War Secretary Pete Hegseth says the bill for the war so far is $37.5 billion; the Mamdani Democrats never fail to point out this is money that could be used for the benefit of working Americans.
Unlike in Delhi, Americans are not thronging the streets in protest. Perhaps this is the result of an atomised society in which everyone is constantly “comfortably numb”, as the Pink Floyd song goes. These atoms float in a sea of nastiness and fear, so they keep their opinions to themselves.
Some believe that Trump will have no choice but a ground invasion of Iran. Even his party rank-and-file worries about justifying it to constituents when campaigning for the mid-terms begins. As for Mamdani, he told both The Times and Rolling Stone that fellow New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could be a winning presidential candidate in 2028.
There are rumours that the BJP tried to build a boyish-faced opposition turncoat into the north Indian Mamdani, which is ridiculous. Mamdani is a genuine political animal with sharp political instincts—and a crowd-puller—not a creature of social media marketing teams. If anyone can replicate his success, it is Rahul Gandhi, who in India has owned the globally winning issue of education.
Aditya Sinha is a writer living on the outskirts of Delhi.
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