Mumbai: Opposition parties NCP (SP) and Congress on Friday asked the BJP why its leaders attacked young protesters when RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says that Gen Z should not be branded anti-national.
They accused the ruling party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of practising "politics of double standards".
Addressing a gathering of around 2,000 Gen Z (born roughly 1997-2012) and Gen Alpha (2013-2025) members in Mumbai on Thursday, Bhagwat said, "If Gen Z members are agitating, they are not anti-national; they are our people. It is our next generation. You need a dialogue and rapport with them."
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NCP (SP) spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said in a statement that the country is witnessing two completely different faces of the Sangh Parivar.
While Bhagwat projected himself as a voice of moderation by stating that Gen Z should not be branded anti-national, several prominent BJP leaders, including MPs Nishikant Dubey and Kangana Ranaut, had publicly levelled serious allegations against protesting youths during the nationwide protests over the NEET controversy, he said.
"This contradiction is impossible to ignore. The youth of India deserve to know which face represents the real ideology of the RSS?" he asked.
"It appears to be a carefully calibrated political strategy - one voice attempts to soften the image of the establishment while another continues to intimidate, polarise and delegitimise dissent. The Indian youth cannot be misled by this 'double standard' approach," Tapase said.
If Bhagwat genuinely believes Gen Z deserves dialogue, dignity and trust, then moral consistency demands that he publicly disapprove of those leaders within the BJP who have repeatedly questioned the intentions and patriotism of the same young Indians, the NCP (SP) leader said.
"The RSS and the BJP cannot continue speaking in two different voices while expecting the country to believe them. India's youth cannot be suppressed through political narratives," Tapase said.
Young Indians are asking for quality education, transparent examinations, employment opportunities and accountability in governance, he said.
NCP (SP) national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said the BJP and its supporters are now jumping on the popularity of the Gen Z bandwagon. "Where were they when there was a lathi charge on these peaceful protesters? Who ordered the lathi charge on the Gen Z is a question that the BJP-led government needs to answer," he said.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Bhagwat has expressed concern about the education of Gen Z, referring to the RSS chief batting for increasing spending on the key sector to 6 per cent of the GDP.
"It is now expected that vice-chancellors, professors and other incompetent officials who were appointed in universities by the government at the behest of the RSS would be removed immediately. The RSS has played a major role in damaging the education sector," Sawant said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray claimed that the action against Gen Z protesters in New Delhi last month was the result of infighting in the BJP. "A tug-of-war is going on within the BJP for the prime minister's post," he claimed.
He claimed that the use of force against protesters made citizens across the country angry.
"The agitation at Jantar Mantar is just the beginning. It was the result of the nationwide anger against the government," Thackeray told reporters.
Thackeray, who is on a tour of Nashik, also asked Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil to pay attention to the youth and their problems instead of claiming that the Delhi police will take action after "linking the fingerprints on stones at Jantar Mantar with the Aadhaar numbers of protesters".
He also targeted the government over pothole-related deaths in Nashik.
