PM says \u2018misled children\u2019 need to be shown \u2018the right path\u2019 as his supporters dox and abuse protesters on social media
\n New Delhi
\nIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he forgives students who hurled expletives at him during protests last month, describing them as \u201cmisled children\u201d who must be shown \u201cthe right path\u201d rather than be prosecuted and punished.
\nThe biggest political crisis of Modi\u2019s third term was caused by growing support for the youth-led Cockroach protest movement, which emerged in May after a crucial exam was voided after the questions were leaked, forcing more than two million students to resit the exam the following month.
\nThe Cockroach Janta Party \u2013 as the protesters called themselves after the chief justice of the Supreme Court described unemployed youths and activists as \u201ccockroaches\u201d \u2013 was initially a social media campaign calling for educational reform via viral memes. But it morphed into a mass movement mobilising tens of thousands of supporters in capital New Delhi and inspired similar protests in cities across India.
\nThe protests eventually ended after the Modi government agreed to all the protesters\u2019 demands, including the resignation of the education minister, and pledged not to pursue criminal cases against any demonstrators.
\nBut despite Modi\u2019s assurances, the authorities in states ruled by Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party filed cases against hundreds of protesters after some clashed with security forces and shouted abusive slogans about the prime minister.
\nSupporters of Modi\u2019s far-right Hindu nationalist politics have doxed female protesters, including teenagers, on social media, hurling rape and death threats at them, and demanding the local authorities take criminal action against them.
\n\u201cThese are misled children. Showing them the right path is our duty. Punishing them, making them run around courts, or tormenting them in society will not change the situation,\u201d Modi said in a video posted on social media late on Friday, adding that \u201cdisgusting expletives\u201d were targeted at him and his late mother at the protest.
\n\u201cIt is a cultural shock to us that how can our daughters use this language,\u201d he said, before adding: \u201cI want to forgive them.\u201d
\nTensions erupted between protesters and government forces in several parts of the country during the demonstrations last month, including in New Delhi, where people attempting to march on parliament were met with tear gas, pellet shotguns and baton charges.
\n\u201cModi is mute on the brutality unleashed on students in the capital and comes on Instagram to victimise himself,\u201d Radhika Kumar, a 21-year-old student at Delhi University, told Al Jazeera.
\n\u201cThis government\u2019s supporters have abused women online for all these years, intimidated them into silence. Now, our prime minister is moral policing us.\u201d
\nThe movement said on Monday that \u201chundreds\u201d of students had been arrested in various states, in violation of the government\u2019s commitment to dropping police cases filed against protesters.
\nThe opposition has been pressing the government to sack Home Minister Amit Shah, Modi\u2019s close confidante who controls law and order in Delhi, for the crackdown on students.
\nThe protests \u2060also prompted the Modi government to introduce a bill in parliament to amend the legislation governing public examinations, proposing longer prison terms and higher fines for those involved in exam paper leaks.
\nIn the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, police also registered a case against the head of Meta India, Arun Srinivas, over multiple videos posted on the company\u2019s Facebook platform that depicted Modi in an \u201cabusive manner,\u201d a senior police officer said on Friday.
\n\u201cWe are in touch with the concerned agencies and are cooperating with them to resolve the matter,\u201d a spokesperson for Meta said.
\nSince February, platforms must remove unlawful content flagged by courts or the government within three hours, down from 36.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PM says \u2018misled children\u2019 need to be shown \u2018the right path\u2019 as his supporters dox and abuse protesters on social media New Delhi Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he forgives students who hurled expletives at him during protests last month, describing them as \u201cmisled children\u201d who must be shown \u201cthe right path\u201d rather […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n