The Indian Gen Z has truly lit a fire across various sectors of society. After the Jantar Mantar protests, there has been an interesting rise in movements, from ones led by Gen Alpha to some that are receiving valid criticism.
The E20 debate also flared up once again when a social media page uniting those against the ethanol push in the country came up and quickly went viral.
What makes it interesting is how the core idea of the Delhi protests, where Gen Z promoted the belief that “if we organise, they listen” and went on to win as well, has now spread across generations and causes.
The UP School Sit-In
One of the best ripple effects of the Delhi protests is the student sit-in protest at a Uttar Pradesh school.
Here, on the morning of July 28, roughly 1,500 students, many from Class 6 through 12, from the Sarvodaya Inter College in Kishanpur, Fatehpur district, skipped morning assembly and staged a dharna instead, blocking the school gates and refusing to attend classes.
This protest was a call-out over the lack of basic facilities. Students revealed how there were no functioning fans in sweltering classrooms, no clean drinking water, broken toilets, and faulty electrical wiring that had reportedly caused shocks. They also alleged that the school administration had charged unauthorised fees at admission.
As per reports, the idea of this protest came to four Class 12 students after they participated in the Jantar Mantar movement against the NEET paper leak. The Delhi protests inspired them to organise their own demonstration to finally voice their frustration at students being denied basic facilities.
Ankur Sonkar, a Class 12 student, had personally attended the Delhi protests at Jantar Mantar and was seen in videos urging fellow young people to back Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, saying at the time, “Support Sonam sir. If we do not support good people, whom will we support? Fight for your rights.”
As per Ankur, their demands included an RO system for clean drinking water, basic infrastructure to be repaired, four fans in each classroom, new toilets and improved sports facilities. As per reports, students also accused teachers of misbehaving with those who were suffering chronic health issues because of these problems.
A student, speaking with ThePrint anonymously, revealed the tipping point of the protest: “When the girls complained (about a broken fan in the classroom), the teacher told them, ‘Tu baith ja chup chap‘ (‘sit down quietly’),” and how “After that, more female students came together and informed the male students about what had happened. A group of students then approached the principal with the complaint, but they felt he ignored the issue.”
Once senior student Ankur Sonkar and his classmates got to know about this incident, “They decided to organise a protest, combining this issue with other long-pending demands such as clean drinking water, better toilets, fans and other basic facilities,” the student said.
The school principal, Lal Bahadur Singh, was surprised by the protest, stating that “When I arrived, teachers informed me that students had refused to attend classes and had instead staged Dharna (sit-in protest). At that point I had no idea that Ankur Sonkar (a Class XII student), who was leading the agitation, had recently participated in the Jantar Mantar movement.
Later, I saw videos showing him there. We explained to the students that such protests involving very young children should be avoided and assured them that their grievances would be resolved, but it took six hours to convince them.”
When the students refused to enter their classrooms and end their protest, even after the local police and school authorities’ persuasion, the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS) Rakesh Kumar, Naib Tehsildar Nitin Kumar and other administrative officials finally arrived.
They held a meeting with an eight-member student delegation, and a resolution was reached in which the officials agreed in writing to seven of the eight demands put forward by the students, after which the students ended their protest.
E20 Janta Party
If Gen Alpha borrowed the CJP’s tactics, the E20 Janta Party borrowed almost everything else: the name format, the meme energy, the “we’re just angry citizens” framing, and the explosive follower growth.
The account appeared within hours of Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, this time targeting Union Minister Nitin Gadkari over India’s mandatory E20 fuel policy, the 20% ethanol, 80% petrol blend that’s been the default at Indian pumps since April 2026.
Its demand is narrower than it might sound: it isn’t asking the government to scrap E20 altogether, just to keep pure, unblended petrol available as a choice alongside it.
Coverage of the movement noted its Instagram following crossed the 500,000 mark within just days of it being online, alongside tens of thousands more on X/Twitter, startlingly fast for a brand-new account with no identified founder.
Read More: Indian Parents Vs Gen Z Opinion: Is It Really Necessary To Struggle In Life?
Reservation Hatao Andolan
The Reservation Hatao Andolan (RHA), however, is one that has caused a lot of divide between supporters and critics. The fact that its Instagram page has already crossed 5 million followers clearly shows that the movement carries some weight.
The account, @reservationhataomovement, describes itself in its bio as being “backed by citizens discarded by reservation politics, driven by merit,” and runs under the slogan “Educate, Agitate, Organise.”
RHA’s core demands, laid out on its page, are specific: merit over caste in admissions and recruitment, equal fees regardless of category, a uniform age limit for competitive exams, and a common cut-off score for all candidates.
The campaign also insists that it has no political affiliation, stating, “We are not affiliated with any political party,” and framing its long-term vision under the banner “One Nation. One Identity. Indian.”
In a reel posted on their Instagram, one of the creators of the movement said, “When the CJP folks claim they are fighting for students who committed suicide due to paper leaks, why don’t they speak up for those who took their own lives because candidates with lower scores secured admission instead of them?
Think of the students who work hard and achieve good marks, only to see someone with a score of minus 40 get admitted.”
The account’s spokesperson, detailing their “first protest”, told supporters that “You need to flood the comment sections of Modi ji and the CJP with demands to abolish reservation. The algorithm should reflect nothing but the issue of reservation. Since this is a Gen-Z protest, we will conduct it in the Gen-Z way.”
However, the overwhelming rise of this movement has also caused critics to raise concerns about it, claiming that it is tone-deaf in the context of India’s social structure.
It is believed that the supporters of this movement are largely upper-caste and general-category students and job aspirants who feel that cut-offs and quotas have made competitive exams disproportionately harder for them, and who see reservation as a policy that has outlived its original, time-bound purpose without ever being seriously reviewed.
One user on X/Twitter wrote, “So many posts are demanding the end of reservation, yet not a single one demands the end of caste or casteism. This is the tragic reality: upper castes refuse to acknowledge that casteism still thrives.”
The thing is, this is not the first time that people have voiced their agitation against reservation in the country and demanded that it be removed.
Various upper-caste communities have carried out their own individual protests claiming that reservation is unfair to the general category, or that India doesn’t need it anymore since many of those enjoying the reservation quota are from strong economic backgrounds.
However, experts, educators and anti-caste activists argue the movement fundamentally misreads what reservation is for. They state that the campaign not only ignores that context but also blatantly dismisses how prevalent caste-based discrimination still is in India.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: ThePrint, The Wire, Hindustan Times
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