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At Jantar Mantar , it felt like Comic-Con had wandered into a protest. Spider-Man showed up. So did a low-budget Pokémon. Dora the Explorer became Dora the Protester. And then there was the placard that had everyone laughing on internet: “ Yahan paper leak ho raha hai. Wahan Taylor Swift ki shaadi ka photo tak leak nahi hua.”
Ask anyone attending the protest, and they’ll tell you: the vibe is great. As reels tagged #DeshBhaktiMaxing flooded social media, those watching them were surprised to find just how Gen Z-coded the protest was. They marvelled at how Gen Z protesters could be so serious and utterly unserious at the same time.
They are uploading reels while outrunning the police, rewriting pop songs into political satire, cracking jokes about tear gas, and then standing still to sing the National Anthem, buying themselves a few seconds as the police pause.
While Gen Z is busy protesting and posting reels, everyone else is trying to decode a protest where an alien, a foreign head of state, Taylor Swift, Bollywood love songs and the fight against exam paper leaks coexist in the same frame and somehow make perfect sense.
The protest prep starts with a reel
The protest at Jantar Mantar has its own aesthetic: swimming goggles to protect against tear gas, handheld fans and mini USB fans passed around to fight Delhi’s humidity. And if they are going to protest, how can they not film GRWM (Get Ready With Me) reels before heading to Jantar Mantar? They are posting their GRWM reels, and one comment read: “Baddies are here!” Students are posting stories from airports and trains on their way to Delhi as if they were travelling to a concert. And they are turning the protest site into a concert by singing songs like – Sandese Aate Hai . The FOMO around the protest was real, with reels attracting thousands of comments from other Gen Z users saying, “Wish we were there,” or announcing their plans to join.


The meme-ification of a protest: Songs, memes and trends take over the Gen Z social feeds
■ When police chased students through the streets, a Gen Z protester decided the background music should be Saiyyan Tu Kamaal Ka from Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Videos of protesters running from barricades were edited like romantic montages. Another dedicated Aaj Teri Galiyon Mein Mohabbat Hogi to Delhi Police.
■ The soundtrack of this protest is as much Bollywood romance as it is protest music. It is Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Bollywood love songs. n And it seems there are Gen Z protesters from police families too.
■ A post read: “ Papa aur main dono Jantar Mantar ja rahe hain. Main pitne, papa peetne .”
■ When police approached a gathering on Monday, students suddenly began singing the National Anthem. Officers stopped. Later, reels celebrated the moment with captions like, “Mother India still protecting us all” and “Got a breather for 52 seconds.” Someone rewrote Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next, replacing Sean, Ricky and Pete with Indian political leaders. Malcolm became Manmohan Singh.


Subway surfers to runners at the protest
■ While police chased Gen Z protesters to disperse them, they decided it counted as cardio. A participant later uploaded a screenshot of the kilometres covered during the chase – “Thanks for the cardio, Dilli Police.”
■ When a policeman was running behind a protester, he posted: “Subway Surfers IRL at Jantar Mantar protest. Bro thought he could outrun me.”
■ Tear gas became content too – “ Koi Dilli Police ko batao AQI badh jayega. ” They posted videos of tear gas being used, saying it looked like a PUBG scene.