India's prime minister is wooing the GenZ while cracking down on them

A child holds a placard during a gathering in solidarity with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to celebrate the resignation of India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Mumbai on July 26, 2026 as protests over the alleged NEET exam irregularities were called off. PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images MUMBAI, India – Last month, weeks after tens of thousands of students took to the streets of New Delhi demanding education reform, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally broke his silence on the seven-week protests. He did it through an Instagram reel. Modi said he was aware of how corruption in India's examination systems had affected them, and he was working to fix it. The reel — shot chin-first, uploaded at midnight — inspired countless parodies. Undaunted, the 75-year-old leader put up more reels over the next few days addressing his "friends," as he referred to the protesting youth. Over the next few weeks, many of his ministers appeared to increase their frequency of posting on Instagram too. This was a reaction to nationwide protests by a youth-led movement known as the Cockroach Janta Party, a name that emerged from ...