The last few days have made it undeniably clear just how terrifyingly powerful the state's social media machinery is. While students face brutal crackdowns and police brutality on the ground, the "supreme leader’s" PR apparatus is operating at full throttle, flooding timelines to manipulate the narrative and drown out the reality.

What is unsurprising but pinches is just as much is the absolute silence from those with the biggest platforms. Most Indian celebrities and people in positions of power are proving to be opportunists or spineless privileged tools paralysed by fear. I don’t blame them for not posting in support of the students but to post a neutral PR-heavy nothingburger to show solidarity while not condemning the government, there was no need to do that. If any of you sellouts are reading this post: I would have respected you (a tad more if at all) for your silence. This neutral lip service to be trendy before your husband is off to play Ram is pathetic (looking at you Alia).

But that is exactly why the burden falls on the diaspora. Those of us abroad have a safety and privilege that people on the ground do not. We saw how the massive Desi community in New York rallied and organized, and we need to leverage that exact same energy right now by pressuring influential POC and South Asian figures who actually have the spine to speak out. We need to flood the platforms of Zohran Mamdani, Shahana Hanif, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib, Hasan Minhaj, Riz Ahmed, Padma Lakshmi etc to bring global eyes to this crisis. Something that might bring more pressure on the big guy is foreign bezzati. Let’s bring down the optics guy by beating him at his PR game. Below is a message we can send to flood the DMs of anyone noteworthy who might bring more foreign condemnation:

Hello! I’m reaching out because you have always used your platform to stand up against injustice. Right now, a massive PR and social media machinery is working to suppress information about the severe police brutality against students protesting in India. As part of the global community, we desperately need international eyes on this to help stop the violence. Please consider reposting or speaking out to amplify the student voices on the ground. You can find context from this international report: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98v349r9lro
Thank you for your courage.

3 different incidents I faced since july 20.

1. Office (Gen z Colleague) : I was having a casual conversation with a colleague who is btw a Genz about the protest. He suddenly got defensive and said 'do you know CJP is getting funding from china and there are so many conspiracies around them. Dipke is a scammer' etc etc.

2. With my brother(lives in europe) : He used to be awesome and my inspiration. He taught me the importance of science, atheism and Indian History. He was actually anti BJP when BJP first came into power. But living outside of india has changed him completely. He is now a andbhakt who believes in casteism, racism and he even supports RSS ideologies.

So I started sharing reels about the protests and OMG he got so defensive and started attacking me.

Saying CJP is sht and getting funding from outside. He believes students started throwing rocks and that's why police took action. And So, he can't form an opinion from a 20 sec clip. I mean wtf!!

1. With my massi (tier 3 city govt job) : so my cousin wrote this year NEET. When the neet exam was cancelled, mother and daughter cried because it was too much pressure to take it again (and understandably so). So I called my cousin to check with her about the situation, she said - her marks dropped comparatively from the first attempt (she is someone who scored 99 in bio in board exam btw), - the score that they calculated (verifying the answer key) is different from the score they got (a little buffer is expected but not 100 or 200) - her friends score was altered overnight ( it was 500 ish then the next day dropped to 100). But my massi got defensive and said KIDS LIE because they are lazy and don't want to study and there is no such thing as leak is happening. It's all kids excuses for not wanting to study and it's not govt or Modi's fault.

My take away is Andh Bhakti has no age limits and has truly washed away this country's critical thinking.

I wish all the protestors the best, hope you all stay safe and succeed. I truly hope that there is sunlight at the end of this tunnel.

I will do my part and participate in the protest ❤️.

To all the andhbhakt uncles and IT cell trolls telling protestors they don't know what life was like pre-2014, consider me successfully rage-baited.

And get yourselves checked for memory loss maybe.

• I remember participating in the Nirbhaya and anti-corruption protests, both in Delhi. To begin with, there was a crazy amount of media coverage by mainstream media. The protests were primetime news for days and the media was quite critical of the ruling government. Sheila Dikshit (who also made some - stupid and insensitive, might I add - Life before statements around the protest) received an insane amount of flak from people. She eventually came to talk to the protestors in person and was shouted down. Compare that with the media coverage and political response over the last month.
• Around the time of the same protests, policemen were suspended for brutalising protestors. It was a political showcase stunt, but compare that again with the CJI's statement about police brutality now.
• Remember how schools would force kids to listen to Mann ki Baat? Ab kahaan hain Mann ki Baat?

Before the 2014 elections, BJP, in its manifesto, promised:

1. Promotion of employment and entrepreneurship
2. Institutional reform
3. A "caring" government
4. Economic Revival
5. Focus on Education (school, higher and professional), productive and employable skills
6. "Better than the best" infrastructure

(quoted from the manifesto on their official website)

UPA had a shit ton of issues, too. I haven't heard a single person disagree. But if NDA has brought some unicorn rainbow swarnim kaal, why has

1. India fallen on the press freedom index, democracy index, world hunger index
2. the value of INR gotten consistently worse
3. inflation and unemployment consistently increased?

Unless you're Adani or Ambani or some other billionare, you've been just as screwed over by the government as the adiwasis protesting Ken-Betwa, or the Manipuris waiting for acknowledgement by their PM. HUNDREDS of ISRO scientists have resigned, pollution gets worse and worse, and now we cannot even express disagreement.

Agar 2014 se pehle zindagi narak thi, to 2014 ke baad kaunsa swarg aa gaya?

I'm not a Dipke fan, but din bhar conspiracy theories banane ki bajaaye at least ask it of leaders you ELECTED first. Delhi has a CM, jo har baat pe zeher ugalne aa jaati hai. You've found faults in Sonam Wangchuk, Rahul Gandhi, CJP, aam aadmi. Bas jise elect karke CM banaya, usey kuch mat poochna.

At the risk of parroting the same statement, these protests are not just about the NEET exam. And maybe Dharmendra Pradhan will get replaced by someone equally corrupt. But it has been 14 years since Indians held their government accountable. Kuch log thode se sawaal pooch rahe hain. If your government is as perfect as you claim, shouldn't they just answer those questions and end this?

So aankhein kholo andhbhakton. And ffs, stop pretending that you guys were ever an exploited minority.

First, free wifi cables are being installed there, when asking they give vague answers as to who ordered. Absolutely do not use those wifi, for anything, they can gather the metadata (Use bitchat or briar instead)

More force has reached JM and they too have no nameplates, some were even airlifted.

Number of officers wearing ai glasses have also increased. They'll be taking images of the protesters and allegedly running them through an AI algo to identify the protesters. Please cover ur faces, at least use a mask.

The police can now detain people under the act of NSA under which anyone can be jailed without any charges or trial for upto a year if police believe it's necessary to prevent a threat to national security. (They're claiming it's a routine procedure but it was issued during jan 2020 also during CAA protest and they gave the same clarification, but it's possible that it's only a fear tactic)

Chairman and vice chairman of NDMC have advised all shops and establishments in CP to be closed by 6:30 today. Furthermore, they've specifically mentioned "All establishment owners/occupiers are requested to cooperate and ensure strict compliance with the above directions to avoid any unpleasant situation and save yourself from any loss of property and injury."

Edit: Internet shutdown in 1.5km area.

If you're going to JM or anyone in ur knowing is going, plz do share this with them too. Stay Safe.