3 min readJul 21, 2026 06:00 AM IST First published on: Jul 21, 2026 at 06:00 AM ISTThe abundant images on Monday — of thousands of mostly young and mostly peaceful protestors facing barricades and lathi charge and tear gas shells in the heart of the national capital — were stark and dispiriting. They indict the government. The protestors were reportedly responding to the call of the satirical online platform, the Cockroach Janta Party, to march to Parliament. The CJP has been conducting a sit-in protest since June 20 at Jantar Mantar, from where education and environment activist Sonam Wangchuk, fasting since June 28, was taken to a hospital, Saturday, forcibly. But the protestors were arguably responding to more than one fast or one platform. They were rallying behind the issue that is being highlighted — the urgent need to reform a broken education system, beset with exam leaks, delays and irregularities, which leads, in turn, to swelling the ranks of the unemployed. In a country of the young, the recent episode of the NEET cancellation and retest has touched a raw nerve, sparking larger anxieties about the shape of an uncertain future, and lack of readiness to meet its challenges. The Centre looks harsh and unyielding towards the young protestors, and insensitive on an issue that ripples widely. It kept its back turned, eyes wide shut. It took three weeks to break its silence with a meeting on Monday between Minister J P Nadda and spokespersons of the CJP. It is, of course, far from clear whether the meeting translates into reform and accountability.On the interlinked matters of shiksha and berozgari, education and unemployment, the government needs to recognise that it cannot keep kicking the can down the road. It must acknowledge, also, that citizens have the right to place demands on it, to disagree with it and to protest peacefully. In letter and spirit, the Constitution guarantees citizens both the freedom to speak and the space to be heard. Over the last 12 years or so, however, the government’s instinct has been to distrust and demonise those who express dissent, to reflexively label them “anti-national”. It favours a top-down, one-way communication that does not involve listening and responding.AdvertisementOn Monday, the march of the protestors was to Parliament, the highest forum of deliberative democracy, where elected representatives take up the people’s issues. The concerns highlighted at Jantar Mantar must find their way into the House eventually — that is the legitimate trajectory. A government that has, through its serial electoral successes, underlined its connect with the people can ill afford to stand in their way when they demand a hearing in between elections. It is still not too late, a beginning has been made towards a dialogue with the protestors. In days to come, the government must make amends by building on it.