Charm and charges for India’s youth

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0:31You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories, up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. India's ruling party, the BJP, realizes it has a problem reaching young voters. Last month, youth-led protests sparked by education policy and high unemployment shook the political establishment. The Gen Z protest leaders started a political movement called the Cockroach Party, named after an official disparagingly compared unemployed youth to cockroaches. So now the ruling party is revamping its communication strategy. But even as they hope to woo young voters, police are arresting protest organizers.

1:15NPR's Omkar Kandeker takes us to Mumbai to look at the BJP's charm and punishment campaign with the younger generation.

1:26Last month, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to address tens of thousands of students in the capital protesting for education reforms. He did it after weeks of silence, through an Instagram reel. Modi said he was aware how corruption in India's examination systems had affected them, and he was working to fix it. That reel got more than 21 million likes. Three times more than Taylor Swift did when she announced her latest album. It also inspired countless parodies on Modi's awkward style, which some compared to grandparents on a video call. Yet Modi put up more reels in the coming days.

2:16And as news channel NDTV reported, the 75-year-old leader wanted his ministers to do the same.

2:34Rajat Sethi is a visiting fellow at the conservative think tank India Foundation. He says the nationwide protests last month made the boomers in the BJP government think that their main failure was not connecting with the youth. Because, he says, If they are not making reels, if they are not speaking in a rap song, perhaps, to the Gen Z, they will not hear you. Since then, India's foreign ministry got onto Snapchat. Legislators started using slang in speeches. One BJP legislator, Mansuri Swaraj, told the parliament that, despite criticism, India under Modi is actually much better off.

3:18Modi clocked it. Professor Joyjeet Pal tracks political messaging at the University of Michigan. He says the BJP's Instagram game isn't quite landing.

3:48like young people, is actually going to win them votes. Like a reel showing Modi talking to kids, playing football, set to an iconic song.

4:02Paul says the youth outreach comes off as insincere because police have also booked hundreds on criminal charges. Others report abuse, doxing and receiving death and rape threats from BJP supporters. Like Mumbai model Ria Ahir, whose photograph blocking a police van became a defining image of the protest. Ahir says she has been abused online, with attackers falsely claiming that

4:37Delhi-based independent internet watchdog Software Freedom Law Centre says Since last month's protests, it has observed an unprecedented social media censorship, often posts critical of Modi. BJP national spokesperson Shazia Elmi denied police overreach and claimed without proof that there were criminals among protesters. Who are these youths? What have they done? What are the cases? She accused NPR of being biased against her party. I think it's a lot of nonsense and anti-Modi rubbish. And hung up on this reporter. Period. Thanks. Leaders of the protest group Kokroj Janta Party said that the government had failed to honour their promise to not charge young protesters.

5:21And so it has announced a season two of student protests. At a recent gathering, the group asked a crowd of supporters what they should protest about. The answer was quick for Modi's resignation. But the Prime Minister hasn't responded with an Instagram reel yet. Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, Mumbai.

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