Written by, June 9 -- Apurba Kumar Baruah

"The public in contemporary India needs to engage with independent civil society organizations and youth-led movements that demand transparency outside traditional party lines."

Shashi Tharoor's recent appeal, published in The Indian Express, urging Gen Z to join the system rather than agitate against it, is a poor attempt to persuade young people who have realized that the system itself needs to be challenged and changed. He appears to be completely disconnected from the lived experiences of frustrated young people who are increasingly realizing that they are trapped in a broken system. In fact, this appeal exposes a growing disconnect in Indian politics.

Tharoor has been a privileged member o...