GenNext bitten by Rang de Basanti bug

Rakyesh Mehra in his wildest dreams would not have thought that Rang de Basanti would enter the lexicon of Indian sociology. But it has.

 Till Rang de Basanti unravelled it, revealing the complex layers of the GenNext.  True, GenNext is focussed on big bucks, big ideas and is big on friends. But equally true is its big desire to fight injustice.

Whether it is the cold-blooded murder of 27-year-old Manjunath Shanmugam, an Indian Oil Corporation manager, or the verdict on the Jessica Lal case, GenNext has not kept quiet.

“We have stopped being spectators,” says 27-year-old Anjali Mullatti, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, alumnus, and a friend of Manjunath. But it isn’t only murder that gets GenNext moving.

Eve-teasing, for instance, prods them into action too. Twenty-six-year old Jasmeen Patheja started a blog against it. “Blank Noise lets women retaliate against eve teasers by posting their pictures,” she says.

Delhi has also seen action by GenNext. In her ongoing protest against the Narmada dam, Medha Patkar was surprised to see students outnumber activists.

“The young have definitely taken to the street,” says Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish Katara, allegedly killed by a politician’s son for having an affair with his sister. “We have not seen this kind of activism. The Jessica Lal case was the last straw.”

A sentiment echoed by 22-year-old Madhumita, a JNU student. “How can we be part of an apathetic system?”

Sociologists are dubbing this burst of activism the Rang de Basanti phenomenon. Psychologist Sameer Parekh says, “Being sensitive they react to issues affecting them.”

Vadodara-based Bimla Parima feels youngsters are getting involved in social issues because a booming economy has resolved their ‘bread and butter’ issues. “It is because their stomachs are full that they can concentrate on other issues,” she says.

Surat-based psychologist Aniruddh Shah   takes the argument forward and says, "The middle class is economically strong today. This enables them to get involved."

Opinion, though, is divided if such activism indicates institutional failure. Sanjay Kaul of People’s Action, a Delhi NGO, thinks so. “Institutions have collapsed and people are coming together to force the government to act,” he says. An opinion that echoes in Vadodara. “One does not get anything without fighting for it,” says MS University student leader Rutvij Joshi. Surprisingly, Neelam Katara has faith in the system.

"It has loopholes, but we can't say it has collapsed. The same system reopened the Jessica Lal case,” she says.

Surat's Nikhil Kulkarni, 21, says, “Like in Rang De Basanti, it is not patriotism that is moving the youth. It is the feeling that powerful people should not be allowed to commit any wrong and get away with it.”

Brajesh Kumar in Delhi, Jayalakshmi Venugopal in Bangalore, Mauli Buch in Vadodara, Summit Khanna in Surat and Madhumita Mookerji in Kolkata