Who will lead India’s next student movement? | What's Your Ism? EP 54

Student politics is returning to the centre of India’s political conversation. But what does this new wave of student activism stand for, and can it grow into a broader political movement?

Listen & follow on Youtube

Listen & follow on Apple

Listen & follow on Spotify

In this episode of What's Your ISM?, The News Minute Executive Editor Sudipto Mondal sits down with student leaders from the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA) to discuss the new opportunities to build student politics, the growing anger on Indian campuses, and the possibilities and contradictions within today’s student movements.

Sudipto and the student leaders also explore the relationship between caste and class politics, Ambedkar and Marx, the Left and Ambedkarite movements, and whether these forces can find common ground. They discuss the recent student protests, the rise of Gen Z politics, the education crisis, privatisation, unemployment, and the demand for student union elections in Karnataka.

The conversation also looks at whether student organisations can build a third front beyond the BJP and Congress, the challenges of organising across caste and class lines, and the role of ideology in sustaining a movement beyond a single protest.

They also discuss the Rohith Act campaign in Karnataka, and how different student organisations came together to push for stronger protections against discrimination in universities.

Get special 6-month subscription of TNM-NL at Rs 1947: https://pages.razorpay.com/tnm-1947?utm_source=wyi&utm_medium=wyi1947linkk&utm_campaign=wyi 

Like Sudipto’s Ism show? Support him: https://rzp.io/rzp/tnm-wyi 

Or become a subscriber: https://www.thenewsminute.com/subscription 

Producer: Akshay Lal, Editor: Vignesh Manickam, Camera: Ajay R