Modi turns to Instagram reels to court Gen Z as authorities clamp down on student protests

Weeks after tens of thousands of students marched in New Delhi demanding reforms to a corrupt examination system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence with a midnight Instagram reel, saying he was aware of the problem and working to fix it. He and several ministers continued posting reels aimed at the protesting Gen Z, a strategy prompted by the rise of the Cockroach Janta Party, a meme-originated movement that recently removed the education minister and posed a significant threat to the BJP.

Protesters used platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to organize and mock the government, while police lodged thousands of criminal charges and employed batons, tear gas and pellet guns during July clashes. Digital-rights group Software Freedom Law Centre reported unprecedented government-ordered censorship of posts critical of Modi on platforms like Meta and X. The nation’s top court later instructed the government to withdraw the charges, a decision hailed by the Cockroach Janta Party as a major win. The episode highlights the BJP’s new reliance on youth-centric social media outreach amid ongoing allegations of state-sanctioned violence and online harassment of activists.