A fortnight ago, BJP president Nitin Nabin had a four-hour deliberation with young party colleagues on how to reach out to the youth. From newly appointed Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief Hemang Joshi and his three predecessors—Tejasvi Surya, Poonam Mahajan, and Anurag Thakur—to Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajasthan deputy chief minister Diya Kumari—most of the 44 attendees shared their views.
The term ‘Gen Z’ was not to be used. Those gathered used ‘students’ and ‘youth’ instead. No one mentioned the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) or criticised the young protestors. Except for Saumitra Khan, West Bengal BJYM chief and MP, who complained about ministers “not listening” to him, the broader theme of the discussion was about engaging with the youth. That Prime Minister Narendra Modi also wanted their feedback was evident from the presence of Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was constantly taking notes.
One doesn’t know what Nabin gathered from the meeting. Three days later, he posted a video link of his meeting with the Russian envoy, Denis Alipov, with Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’ playing in the background.
Nabin was ostensibly trying to impress Gen Z, unmindful of what history books say about Rasputin’s role at Emperor Nicholas II’s court. The BJP president didn’t even pay heed to the lyrics, which describe him as “lover of the Russian queen” and “Russia’s greatest love machine”.
A few days later, at a youth event in Vadodara, PM Modi made a grand entrance with Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ playing in the background. As columnist Tavleen Singh wrote in The Indian Express, “Luckily, it was only the tune that played. Had he been aware of the words, Modi may have fainted.”
This is how the lyrics go:
“Buddy, you’re an old man, poor man
Pleading with your eyes, gonna make you some peace someday
You got mud on your face, big disgrace
Somebody better put you back into your place.”
Playing the British rock band’s 1977 song was obviously supposed to be a ‘cool’ thing that would endear PM Modi to Gen Z. It’s what Bonney M’s 1978 song was supposed to do for Nabin.
What Gen Z is worried about
Here’s a problem: Gen Z doesn’t identify with these songs. They are from the bygone era. I called up my old friend Sarthak, a popular RJ with Fever 104 FM. He has been hosting radio shows for over two-and-a-half decades, and knows a thing or two about Gen Z’s music taste.
“They have no idea who Freddie Mercury (Queen’s lead singer) is. They don’t understand the context (of ‘We Will Rock You’),” he said.
And do they like rock?
“They don’t. They rediscovered Metallica when they saw Stranger Things on OTT. But when old allegations of racism and sexism surfaced, they started cancelling them. Gen Z are into a lot of hip hop, a lot of pop. They are not listening to long forms; they like 30-second hooks. It’s a mix of hormones with social media,” said Sarthak.
According to him, the most important thing politicians should be mindful of is that Gen Z get “angsty” when elders try to emulate their choices in music or elsewhere. “They think you are invading their space,” he added.
That is million-dollar advice to politicians. When they ‘clock’ or ‘flex’ or talk about ‘OGs’ because of ‘FOMO’, it’s ‘delulu’ politics because Gen Z may be perceiving it as an invasion of their space. As a father of two Gen Z children who gets an occasional glance into their friends’ world, too, I can add some things to the list of ‘don’ts’ for politicians whose desperate attempts to woo this generation only expose their ignorance.
For one, don’t preach to them or “forgive” them because you think they are ‘misguided’ and you know better. They are pretty well-informed about what’s happening around them and hold strong views about issues—local, national, or international. So when home minister Amit Shah says that by 2029, the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will be implemented in all 21 NDA-ruled states, Gen Z has many questions. “What’s their problem with live-in relationships? Why is this government’s business?” a young man asked me recently. I tried to explain BJP leaders’ arguments about protecting women from fraud and legal accountability, but he was not convinced. Many from this generation may be turning vegetarian and vegan, but they aren’t amused by the government deciding what they should and shouldn’t eat. You may be convinced that Sanskrit is better than any foreign language, but don’t deny them the choice in the garb of the three-language policy.
What I am driving at is the fact that it’s not just NEET paper leaks or our education system or lack of employment opportunities that are making Gen Z angsty. Those issues are important to them, but their concerns are much larger. They are as worried as you and me about individual liberty, human rights, rural and urban infrastructure, newborn babies dying in hospital fires, and water contamination deaths. Just speaking their lingo isn’t good enough. Playing Boney M or Queen songs to woo the youth shows how far removed our politicians are from the Gen Z world.
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Ruling party missing the point
Perhaps the ruling party is conscious of this disconnect. It wouldn’t otherwise try to emulate the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ event of Rahul Gandhi, the Opposition leader it always made fun of, as it did in Vadodara. It’s also evident from the way BJP governments in states have been reacting to the CJP’s ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign. Rajasthan government has admitted that 611 schools have no buildings of their own. It has announced a Rs 12,500-crore roadmap to rebuild school infrastructure. Maharashtra government has instructed education department officials to work in a “mission mode” to ensure MLA and MP involvement in adopting schools, corporate participation in modernising campuses, and closer attention to students’ nutrition and health.
Uttar Pradesh government has issued a 14-point checklist to nearly 40,000 primary and secondary schools, covering basic infrastructure and cleanliness parameters. The Haryana government has ordered the demolition of 2,814 unsafe structures in schools. It’s a good thing that governments have woken up to these issues. But when was the last time we saw the BJP responding so promptly to the Opposition’s campaigns?
It’s good to see the BJP reacting the way it is to win over students and the youth. That’s the best thing about the ruling party. It doesn’t leave anything to chance. There is nothing wrong about its single-minded focus on Gen Z today. It is, however, missing the point. Gen Z’s grouse is the manifestation of the larger issue of governance lapses. What the Modi government needs to do in its 13th year is to completely reboot governance.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)