The Wire on the student protests:

What makes this moment fundamentally different is that the public is no longer appearing terrified. Despite heavy police deployment, massive surveillance cameras and the use of tear gas and force, the sheer volume of everyday citizens, broke the atmosphere of intimidation. People didn’t just step out of their homes. They stepped out and converted individual isolation into a loud, collective voice.
By refusing to be divided, labelled or silenced, this student-led movement has stripped the Modi regime of its standard playbook, leaving the political leadership, which banks on Modi’s ‘strongman’ image is looking visibly unsettled and facing an unavoidable crisis of accountability.