This article was originally published in The Truth, as the editorial in its January 2022 issue, about the recent protests in Bihar.

Yes, it is true. A single spark can set the whole forest on fire. RRB-NTPC-Group D job aspirants’ struggle is one more example of the correctness of this popular idiom. Just see. On one fine evening, some two to three thousand RRB-NTPC job aspirants all on a sudden and spontaneously gather at Rajendra Nager railway terminal shouting slogans against the RRB’s high handedness in the CBT1 results of NTPC (non-technical popular category), and what we witness is that in just a few hours it turns out to be a spark igniting a wild fire. The protest spreads in whole of Bihar and also in UP. Though the fire didn’t last long and there are things and reasons that can explain this, yet it proved beyond doubt that a very serious churning is taking place below the surface i.e. a significant transformation or a turn over process is underway in the thinking of students and youth. Even the erstwhile supporters of Modi could be seen calling upon the people to defeat BJP in coming elections. Many openly criticized Modi and his brand of politics – the politics of shamelessly hoodwinking the people. It truly seems that the effect of communal and nationalistic-jingoistic agenda of Modi’s brand of politics has started losing shine.

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