There’s no gender divide here. These are people who feel let down, yet still feel privileged to be Indian. They know their rights and they know their privileges. They have a worldview. They’re well connected, and they’re not starry-eyed idealists but realists. They don’t bow to power. What they see is a breach of trust, and they’re not scared. They believe they can bring about change, and they believe the government is the one that’s scared. Eckhart Tolle put it best: “Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power is within, and it is available to you now.” They may well be right.

They have strong reasons to believe the Election Commission is compromised and is subservient to the government. The apex court, in their eyes, has done little to check this sinister cosiness and has failed as the custodian of the Constitution. To them, that amounts to an undeclared Emergency under an undeclared autocracy, and the government’s own actions have only confirmed it.

Each of them also has an axe to grind, a personal story of a raw deal: a seat in a professional college that never came, a job that went elsewhere, a shot at a decent life. Growth and development, they feel, have stayed concentrated in entrenched groups who already share power, don’t need more of it, and still walk away as the beneficiaries. The status quo.

This piece draws on a conversation with a gay man who has taken to the streets and been detained by police three times in the past week or so, once for ten hours. He has protested on behalf of the Congress party and the Cockroach Janta Party, but he isn’t aligned with any group, only the cause. And that cause has united the youth. Like him, many have found an immediate purpose that will shape the future, and he’s determined to take this movement to its logical conclusion. His sexuality once left him feeling isolated and cornered. For the first time, he feels part of something larger: a common purpose, a mainstream that believes in change.

The old divisive playbook of religion, caste, creed and regionalism, along with the scaremongering about things that will never happen, no longer holds them back. Young people especially haven’t been taught to stop questioning. They see the bigger picture, they’re connected through the Internet, and they’re hard to fool.

This is a dangerous situation, a time bomb ticking. The resentment is growing, and every show of force to contain them only emboldens them. It gives them encouragement and confirms that they’re right.

The leaders stay quiet, as if nothing has happened or this is all routine. Or they use their waning influence online to paint the resentment as a Western conspiracy to destabilise India, and those seeking justice as anti-nationals. It’s a hackneyed line, only brings them together.

The establishment is hoping that if it can contain the protesters long enough, they’ll lose hope of getting their demand, the resignation of the chief election commissioner, and drift back to their homes and their lives, which mostly means eking out a living.

The establishment might be wrong. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he says. “The iceberg is half the nation, the youth, the future.”