Fair play, I know, is a notional concept. In real life, justice is neither done nor seen to be done. That is the clearest message the establishment keeps sending the disgruntled youth who want a transparent, fair Election Commission and, with it, a credible election process.

Whether the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) represents Gen Z is a false debate. I’m not Gen Z, and what they seek through this protracted movement resonates with me. The old tricks that worked in the past now backfire.

Delhi’s Special Executive Magistrate Court has remanded leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to five days of judicial custody. They had jumped the locked gates and police barricades to enter Jantar Mantar, holding the national flag and raising slogans, a day after Delhi Police de-notified it as an authorised protest site. The FIRs charge them with trespassing, unlawful assembly, breach of a peace bond, disobeying official orders and obstructing public servants.

Contrast this with the goons used for political ends, whose treatment has caused what is politely called political debate and is really outrage. Ravindra Govinda and others, identified by police as members of the Hindu Raksha Dal, were arrested after a viral video showed them hitting students, including a girl, at the CJP protest. Govinda had made his intentions clear in a video post. They got bail within a day or two and were welcomed back with garlands, as if returning triumphant from battle.

Right-wing goons have attacked protestors many times in full public glare, in the benign presence of police who did little to stop them. In this case, police acted only after the video went viral.

The two cases are legally different. The goons were arrested under standard criminal sections for assault, while Saurav and Ashutosh were remanded for violating a peace bond they had signed earlier. But the goons are seen as friends of the cops, united with them against a common  adversary—the protestors, and so enjoy a sort of immunity. The rule of law is being applied selectively, and hundreds of reels and posts have made that public.

The moot point is that the government and the police have failed to read the popular mood. Such tactics will only worsen the situation and feed a prolonged struggle.

The leadership is silent, seen lately only reading prepared texts at curated events and summarily ignoring the raging protests. The voice of youth dismissed as a provocation orchestrated by opposition parties.

Home Minister Amit Shah has labelled the protests localised, “fabricated media events” and “Jhooth Ki Goonj” (the echo of lies). Distinguishing the voice of the nation from gathered crowds, he challenged their legitimacy: “You cannot become the voice of the nation merely by mobilizing the cadres of fourteen parties to gather a crowd... I urge the Congress party to realize that the voice of the nation also resides in fields, farms, villages, and remote forests where you have no reach.”

Point taken. But if that were so, why was all of Delhi paralysed for a Jhooth Ki Goonj? The shutdown was unprecedented: more than 250 trains cancelled, including 75 long-distance Mail/Express services; 45 key Delhi Metro stations, including hubs like Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi and Central Secretariat, closed completely; and 50,000 personnel deployed, from local police and specialised central units. It prompted Chief Justice of India Surya Kant to observe, “Don’t use a hammer to kill a fly.”

The protest cannot be suppressed by force, not for long. To solve a problem, the establishment must first recognise that there is one in the Election Commission, and that people at large have a fair idea of it. Denial will only aggravate the situation. Justice needs to be done, and seen to be done.