NEW DELHI (AP) — Kashish Rawat traveled to New Delhi on Saturday to protest.
asserted
Rawat → travel → Saturday
She did not tell her parents she was going.
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she → tell → parents
When the 22-year-old economics student arrived in the Indian capital, she encountered a city transformed.
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she → arrive → city
Metal barricades choked the streets as police moved against young demonstrators, beating some, dragging others into buses and chasing away the rest.
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police → choke → rest
Protesters filmed the police violence on their phones, and the videos quickly went viral on social media.
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videos → film → media
The crackdown was meant to keep crowds of mostly young Indians from gathering to demonstrate against a purge of voter lists they say favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party.
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they → mean → party
It did not deter Rawat, who stayed on the streets until evening, keeping out of the reach of police officers.
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who → deter → officers
“We are not going anywhere.
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We → go → ?
We will come back again and make our voices heard,” she said.
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she → come → ?
Protests led by India’s “Cockroach” youth movement intensified earlier this month over an ongoing review of voter lists that’s already removed more than 130 million names since last year.
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that → lead → year
Critics say the campaign is politically motivated and threatens to disenfranchise millions more.
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campaign → say → millions
They have demanded the resignation of election chief Gyanesh Kumar.
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They → demand → Kumar
The Election Commission says the exercise is needed to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.
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exercise → say → entries
Modi has not publicly commented on the protests.
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Modi → comment → protests
Some of his party leaders have dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchists” and suggested, without offering evidence, that they are backed by foreign powers.
uncertain
they → dismiss → powers
The dispute has struck at the heart of Indian democracy: the right to vote.
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dispute → strike → democracy
It is also testing whether a generation raised under Modi, who has been prime minister for more than 12 years, can turn its growing disillusionment into a sustained challenge to his Hindu nationalist government.
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who → test → government
“I don’t see him as almighty,” Rawat said of Modi.
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Rawat → see → Modi
“I see him as someone who we have elected.
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we → see → who
So I don’t understand the reason why we should be scared of questioning that guy.”
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we → understand → guy
A test of India’s democratic institutions
India’s democratic institutions have come under growing pressure under Modi, with critics accusing his government of weakening checks on executive power, curbing dissent and targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims.
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critics → come → minorities
Press freedom groups have also raised concerns about pressure on independent media.
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groups → raise → media
The government rejects the accusations, saying its institutions remain robust and law enforcement targets violations of the law, not dissent.
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enforcement → reject → law
But for many young Indians, the institutions they grew up trusting are falling short of their promise.
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they → grow → promise
They see a political culture hostile to dissent, where challenging those in power can result in harm.
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challenging → see → harm
The voter list dispute has sharpened those frustrations, giving a generation’s discontent a common cause.
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dispute → sharpen → cause
Earlier this summer, protesters forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister, offering a rare example of street pressure translating into political change.
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protesters → force → change
Their mobilization since then has mirrored a wider wave of youth protests in other countries, particularly in South Asia, where Gen Z demonstrators have challenged political elites.
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demonstrators → mirror → elites
For Maya Ribeiro, a 19-year-old student, the controversy over voter lists has raised questions about a democratic right they had taken for granted.
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they → raise → right
At the protests Saturday, where the sociology student was joined by two friends, Ribeiro said they had registered to vote because they believed that participating in a democracy was both a right and a responsibility.
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participating → join → democracy
But the prospect of more voters being struck from the lists has left Ribeiro worried that their right to vote is not assured.
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right → strike → Ribeiro
Ribeiro said it has made the fight over the electoral process more urgent.
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fight → say → process
“When we talk about the institution of voting, it is an important institution, but it is an institution that needs to be cleansed,” Ribeiro said.
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Ribeiro → talk → voting
Police crackdowns have deepened anger among the young
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crackdowns → deepen → young
The sweeping police crackdown has given young Indians another reason to take to the streets, protesters said.
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protesters → give → streets
They described the response to a planned demonstration as disproportionate in a democracy.
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They → describe → democracy
Aryan Kajaniya, a 21-year-old philosophy student, said the dispute reflected a broader disillusionment among young Indians with the country’s political system.
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dispute → say → system
He and other protesters, he said, were increasingly unsure how to exercise their right to free expression when authorities could restrict gatherings and detain demonstrators.
uncertain
authorities → say → demonstrators
“People are actively trying to gather more information about what’s going on in the capital.
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what → try → capital
They are joining in from different cities, but the system is actively trying to suppress us,” he said.
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he → join → us
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
