"Doing Them A Disservice": Milind Deora Snaps At Calls For Gen Z To Protest

Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi Saturday, although he did not name his former Congress colleague, over his call-out to India's students, youngsters, and Gen Z populations to 'save the Constitution, protect democracy, and stop 'vote chori''.

Speaking at NDTV's Yuva 2025 summit this afternoon, he said, "Any politician who might be calling on Gen Z to go out and protest on the streets and create mayhem is doing a disservice to them... I don't think the youth will take such politicians seriously."

The context was an X post by Mr Gandhi this week in which he said, "The youth of the country, the students of the country, the Gen Z of the country... will save the Constitution, protect democracy, and stop 'vote chori'. I always stand with them. Jai Hind!"

The X post followed a PowerPoint presentation by Mr Gandhi detailing allegations against the Election Commission and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, with which the Shiv Sena faction that Mr Deora belongs to is aligned.

Mr Gandhi has alleged the poll panel and the BJP have 'colluded' to commit voter fraud. This week he also claimed a centralised software had systemically mass-deleted names of voters from Congress strongholds in Karnataka before the 2023 state election.

Responding swiftly, the Election Commission said Mr Gandhi had made "baseless" allegations and that it is impossible for members of the public to delete names from voter rolls anywhere in the country. The BJP also tore into Mr Gandhi; Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said

Mr Gandhi had to accept that his leadership of the Congress had "failed", resulting in multiple electoral defeats and the youth of India moving to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mr Deora told NDTV attempts to reach out to youngsters, particularly the Gen Z crowd that is a massive chunk of the national population, is the need of the hour. However, the correct route, he suggested, is to work together to create opportunities to address their issues.

"Beyond traditional ideological divides, i.e., left wing or right, Gen Z has concerns about jobs, about air pollution, about education... they want to know if they can become entrepreneurs, if they can become sportspersons..." he said.

These concerns, he said, had to be addressed, by whichever party may be in power, to ensure pressure over their aspirations and desires, which are, perhaps, felt more keenly than earlier generations, does not boil over, as it did in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

"If their aspirations are not channelled, it becomes restlessness... and if that is not addressed, it can become mayhem," he said.