New Delhi, July 22 -- Watching the spiraling student protest in the heart of India's capital from 12,000 km has been a deeply upending experience. Having reported many agitations and protests in India in my 45-year-long career there is, on the face of it, a superficial sense of sameness about the indefinite fasting by members of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) and their affiliates. However, that sameness disappears quickly on a closer examination.

The most striking feature for me was several instances of students in their teens and 20s standing defiantly as the police mercilessly caned them indiscriminately. So many police personnel looked as if they were redirecting their life's accumulated frustrations on the largely peaceful proteste...