The BJP that mocks protests rose through them | LME 152

Narendra Modi's first major mass politics experience was the 1974 Navnirman movement in Gujarat, triggered by student protests over rising prices and corruption.

Arun Jaitley rose to national prominence coordinating student protests during the JP Movement as Delhi University Students' Union president.

Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a Sangh icon, deliberately broke the law in 1953 by entering Jammu and Kashmir without a permit to protest Article 370.

The 1966 agitation for a nationwide cow slaughter ban, backed by the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, saw hundreds of thousands march on Delhi and turned violent.

BJP leaders who built their careers through protest movements now characterize protests as anti-national and destabilizing.