Indian politics may be witnessing a subtle change in the way political narratives are created as Gen-Z encounter politics through short videos, memes, Instagram reels, etc.
Indian politics may be witnessing a subtle but important change in the way political narratives are created, contested and consumed. The question is no longer simply who has the larger organisational machinery or the louder social-media campaign. Increasingly, the question is: who is able to understand the language and anxieties of a new generation?
For much of the last decade, Narendra Modi and the BJP have demonstrated notable command over political communication. The combination of mass rallies, carefully produced videos, direct social-media messaging and a highly organised digital ecosystem transformed the relationship between the political leader and the voter. The Prime Minister's social-media presence became part of the political event itself. But the political communication environment is changing. The recent controversy surrounding the Jantar Mantar protests offers an interesting example. Prime Minister Modi's reaction to girls using abusive language during the agitation—describing it as a “cultural shock”—was subsequently taken up by Rahul Gandhi in Pune. Gandhi questioned why similar language from boys would apparently be treated differently from that of girls. That intervention may appear trivial to some. It is not. For a generation increasingly sensitive to questions of identity, autonomy and gender equality, the issue is not merely whether abusive language is acceptable. The deeper question is why the same behaviour is judged differently when performed by a woman rather than a man.
And this is where Rahul Gandhi's latest political communication becomes interesting. At his “Chhatron Ki Goonj” interaction in Pune, Gandhi told young women that they belong to themselves—not to their fathers, husbands or sons. He challenged what he described as a “Manusmriti mindset” and urged women to “smash patriarchy.”
Whether one agrees with Rahul Gandhi politically or not, it would be a mistake to dismiss this merely as another Congress speech. He is attempting to move the conversation from political loyalty to personal identity. That distinction matters enormously for Gen-Z.
Young Indians are not necessarily entering politics through the traditional ideological routes of
Congress versus BJP, secularism versus Hindutva, left versus right. Many encounter politics through short videos, memes, Instagram reels, conversations with peers and personal experiences. Their political vocabulary is often shaped by questions such as: Who am I? Who gets to define me? Why should society decide what a woman can be? Why should authority automatically be respected? Why should the same behaviour be acceptable for one gender and unacceptable for another? In that environment, a message such as “you belong to yourself” has considerable communicative power. It is simple. It is personal. And, importantly, it is easily translated into the language of social media.
This perhaps explains why the BJP's otherwise formidable digital machinery cannot simply assume that more content will automatically produce more influence. Political communication is not merely a matter of producing reels. The medium may change, but the audience's expectations change with it.
The midnight social-media interventions associated with Modi may generate attention, but attention is not necessarily persuasion. A reel can create visibility; it cannot automatically create identification. This is where the political contest is becoming more complicated.
The BJP has spent years building an extraordinarily effective communication ecosystem. But Gen-Z is not simply an audience waiting to receive political messages. It is a generation accustomed to commenting, remixing, challenging, mocking and reframing messages almost instantly. The old model was: Leader → Message → Audience. The emerging model is: Leader → Audience → Interpretation → Counter-narrative → New audience. In other words, political communication is becoming increasingly participatory.
Rahul Gandhi's response to Modi's “cultural shock” remark illustrates precisely this phenomenon. Gandhi did not merely criticise the Prime Minister. He reframed Modi's own words and returned them to the political conversation through the language of gender equality. That is a different kind of political contest. It is also important not to exaggerate the moment. One speech does not mean Rahul Gandhi has suddenly captured Gen-Z, nor does a social media campaign automatically mean the BJP has lost its communication advantage.
But something has nevertheless shifted. For perhaps the first time in a while, the opposition is attempting to set the cultural vocabulary of the conversation rather than merely responding to the government's political agenda. “Smash patriarchy” is therefore more significant than a slogan. It represents an attempt to tell young women: you are not merely somebody's daughter, somebody's wife or somebody's mother. You are an individual with your own aspirations, choices and political agency. That message can travel far beyond a political rally.
And this is precisely where the BJP should pay attention—not because Rahul Gandhi has necessarily discovered a winning electoral formula, but because political communication is no longer controlled by the political communicator. The audience now participates in producing the meaning. The BJP's great communication success of the past decade was understanding the power of the medium. Its emerging challenge may be understanding that the medium itself has changed. Gen-Z does not necessarily want another carefully packaged political performance. It may want recognition, participation and authenticity. The real political battle, therefore, may not be between Modi's reel and Rahul's reel. It may be between two different understandings of the Indian citizen: Is the citizen primarily an audience to be addressed—or an individual whose voice must first be heard? That is a much larger question than the success or failure of any single Instagram video. And perhaps that is the real story emerging from Jantar Mantar to Pune.
Mughalu T. Kinimi
Dimapur