Bihar election: Can Modi buck Gen Z rage in India's youngest state?

"As 20-year-old Ajay Kumar scrolled through social media on his mobile phone in Muzaffarpur district in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, he came across rumours that a crucial examination for a government job he had appeared for had been compromised. Ajay is a Dalit, a community that falls at the bottom of India's caste hierarchy and has suffered centuries of marginalisation. He had pinned his hopes for the future on a job reserved for his community under the government's affirmative action programme."

"But the leaking of the examination paper in December last year dashed those hopes. That's when he came across a video of students as old as him and just as angry protesting the paper leak in state capital Patna, some 75km (46 miles) away. He immediately hopped on an overnight bus and found himself among thousands of protesters the next morning."

"On November 6, as he voted in the first phase of a two-part election to choose Bihar's state legislature, Ajay pressed a button on the electronic voting machine hard, hoping his choice would avenge the struggle of students like him. As Gen Z protests topple governments across South Asia, regional giant India the largest and most populous of all has been an exception."

Ajay Kumar, a 20-year-old Dalit from Muzaffarpur, discovered rumours that a crucial government job exam he took had been compromised. The December paper leak ended his hopes for a reserved post, prompting him to join thousands of students in prolonged protests in Patna demanding a re-examination. The Supreme Court dismissed the students' petitions in April, and months later Ajay voted in the first phase of Bihar's legislature elections, pressing the electronic voting button to seek redress. Gen Z protests have toppled governments across South Asia, but India has remained an exception, with Narendra Modi's BJP in power nationally since 2014.

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