A generation of angry young Indians takes to the streets to challenge Modi

NEW DELHI (AP) — Kashish Rawat traveled to New Delhi on Saturday to protest. She did not tell her parents she was going.

When the 22-year-old economics student arrived in the Indian capital, she encountered a city transformed. Metal barricades choked the streets as police moved against young demonstrators, beating some, dragging others into buses and chasing away the rest. Protesters filmed the police violence on their phones, and the videos quickly went viral on social media.

The crackdown was meant to keep crowds of mostly young Indians from gathering to demonstrate against a purge of voter lists they say favors Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. It did not deter Rawat, who stayed on the streets until evening, keeping out of the reach of police officers.

“We are not going anywhere. We will come back again and make our voices heard,” she said.

Protests led by India’s “Cockroach” youth movement intensified earlier this month over an ongoing review of voter lists that’s already removed more than 130 million names since last year. Critics say the campaign is politically motivated and threatens to disenfranchise millions more. They have demanded the resignation of election chief Gyanesh Kumar.

The Election Commission says the exercise is needed to remove duplicate and ineligible entries.

Modi has not publicly commented on the protests. Some of his party leaders have dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchists” and suggested, without offering evidence, that they are backed by foreign powers.

The dispute has struck at the heart of Indian democracy: the right to vote. It is also testing whether a generation raised under Modi, who has been prime minister for more than 12 years, can turn its growing disillusionment into a sustained challenge to his Hindu nationalist government.

“I don’t see him as almighty,” Rawat said of Modi. “I see him as someone who we have elected. So I don’t understand the reason why we should be scared of questioning that guy.”

India’s democratic institutions have come under growing pressure under Modi, with critics accusing his government of weakening checks on executive power, curbing dissent and targeting religious minorities, particularly Muslims. Press freedom groups have also raised concerns about pressure on independent media.

The government rejects the accusations, saying its institutions remain robust and law enforcement targets violations of the law, not dissent.

But for many young Indians, the institutions they grew up trusting are falling short of their promise. They see a political culture hostile to dissent, where challenging those in power can result in harm. The voter list dispute has sharpened those frustrations, giving a generation’s discontent a common cause.

Earlier this summer, protesters forced the resignation of Modi’s education minister, offering a rare example of street pressure translating into political change. Their mobilization since then has mirrored a wider wave of youth protests in other countries, particularly in South Asia, where Gen Z demonstrators have challenged political elites.

For Maya Ribeiro, a 19-year-old student, the controversy over voter lists has raised questions about a democratic right they had taken for granted.

At the protests Saturday, where the sociology student was joined by two friends, Ribeiro said they had registered to vote because they believed that participating in a democracy was both a right and a responsibility. But the prospect of more voters being struck from the lists has left Ribeiro worried that their right to vote is not assured. Ribeiro said it has made the fight over the electoral process more urgent.

“When we talk about the institution of voting, it is an important institution, but it is an institution that needs to be cleansed,” Ribeiro said.

The sweeping police crackdown has given young Indians another reason to take to the streets, protesters said. They described the response to a planned demonstration as disproportionate in a democracy.

Aryan Kajaniya, a 21-year-old philosophy student, said the dispute reflected a broader disillusionment among young Indians with the country’s political system. He and other protesters, he said, were increasingly unsure how to exercise their right to free expression when authorities could restrict gatherings and detain demonstrators.

“People are actively trying to gather more information about what’s going on in the capital. They are joining in from different cities, but the system is actively trying to suppress us,” he said.

The movement’s reach extends beyond the crowds on the streets. Many protesters said they do not identify with any particular group or political party, but are driven by shared concerns.

Ribeiro said conversations among friends, debates at home and social media exchanges had turned their private frustration into collective action.

After years of feeling powerless, the protests had given young Indians like them a renewed sense of political agency, they said. That shift was visible during the “Cockroach” protests earlier this summer, when demonstrators broke a long-standing taboo by openly mocking Modi.

“I do believe that we are at a point where we have been so disillusioned that we are now more resilient than ever,” Ribeiro said.

Challenging a leader as entrenched as Modi is no easy task. He has dominated Indian politics for more than a decade, and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has built a formidable electoral machine. Opposition parties have struggled to turn previous discontent with his government into a sustained national challenge.

The youth protests have also yet to coalesce into a coherent political alternative. But for many, creating space to question the government has become a fight in itself. And that has come at a cost.

Rawat said politics had become a recurring source of tension in her family. She believes her parents’ views have been shaped by television coverage sympathetic to Modi’s party, and their disagreements have sometimes led her to stop speaking to relatives.

“I do still try my best to have a conversation with them, but I have been failing so far,” she said.

For Ribeiro, the question is whether young Indians can turn their anger into a sustained movement for transparency and accountability. They said the protests have helped young people recognize that their voices can matter.

“I think for the first time in a very long time … I have felt a sort of renewed belief in what democracy can do,” Ribeiro said.

Activists shout slogans as they climb onto a police barricade during a protest march by opposition parties toward the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Activists and workers from various opposition parties try to breach police barricades during a protest march toward the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Prabhat Mehrotra)

India's opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi, center, and his sister, fellow lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, lead opposition party leaders and workers in a march toward the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Prabhat Mehrotra)

Detained youth protesters shout slogans as police drive them away in a van from a demonstration by the Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A protester shouts slogans as he climbs onto a police barricade during a march by opposition parties toward the Supreme Court demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi, India, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

ENSENADA, México (AP) — Hurricane Simon pounded western Mexico with more wind and rain Monday after tropical weather systems caused two deaths and damage in Pacific coastal towns and resorts.

The eye of the Category 2 hurricane remained offshore as its outer bands of winds and rain slammed communities between the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean near Puerto Vallarta.

Flood advisories were mostly lifted in the southwestern U.S. after the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel caused weekend flooding in Las Vegas.

In Mexico's Baja California state, rescuers on Monday combed parts of the coastal city of Ensenada where floodwaters swept away vehicles and damaged homes.

Resident Johana Nuriulu said the flooding began during the night, shortly after heavy rain knocked out electricity. “We heard a loud noise that sounded like ocean waves, but really loud,” she said.

Nuriulu said she went outside and discovered that a nearby stream had overflowed, sending water rushing through the neighborhood. The waters inundated streets and homes, sweeping away vehicles and other belongings. “Everything was being dragged away” Nuriulu said.

Several communities were cut off by landslides and overflowing rivers elsewhere in Baja California in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Rachel.

In the afternoon, the Mexican military used helicopters to rescue 32 people — 22 of them foreigners — from a ranch in Ensenada. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila said 13 were children.

The State Secretary of Security, General Laureano Carrillo, said that some of the group were missionaries holding a meeting at the ranch and that among them were Germans and Americans.

At least 10 people were reported missing and a young girl dead in the aftermath of Rachel, according to Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila.

According to Ávila some 14,000 federal and state personnel had been deployed across Baja California to assist affected residents and respond to the emergency.

To the south, Simon downed trees and electricity poles, blocked roads and flooded homes in coastal towns of Guerrero state, including the major seaport of Acapulco, Gov. Evelyn Salgado said at a news conference.

A 71-year-old man died after a wall collapsed in Chilpancingo, Guerrero's capital, Salgado said.

Simon was expected to remain a hurricane through midweek and make landfall Thursday near Sinaloa. the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Monday evening.

Heavy rainfall associated with Simon — 5 to 10 inches (12.7 to 25.4 centimeters) — in west-central Mexico over the next few days may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, the hurricane center said.

In Puerto Vallarta, workers removed wooden panels from boarded-up storefronts and businesses reopened Monday as rains eased. The popular tourist destination's international airport suspended operations until Tuesday morning.

“Personally, I think we should remain on alert because we don’t really know whether it will arrive, move elsewhere or dissipate,” said Noelia Carrillo, a tourism agency worker.

Rachel weakened into a post-tropical cyclone as it moved north into Southern California. The storm battered the coast with unusually large waves, which tore apart a boardwalk and smashed into homes in Long Beach. Some residents were forced to evacuate.

Las Vegas tied an all-time daily rainfall record for October after receiving 1.08 inches (2.74 centimeters) of rain into Sunday morning, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. The record was set in 1947.

Videos posted on social media showed a torrent of water rushing through a street near the Las Vegas Strip, with a Ferris wheel and casinos in the background.

Andrew Orrison, a weather service meteorologist, said localized flash flooding was still a risk for the region Monday.

“We’ve seen the worst of what Rachel brought ... but unfortunately we are looking at the disturbed weather still lingering,” Orrison said.

Flood advisories were mostly lifted by late Monday in Utah, Arizona and elsewhere in the Southwest.

In Utah, dozens of runners and volunteers who were part of the Moab 240 ultramarathon were evacuated Sunday after being stranded by flooding. The race goes through Canyonlands and Arches National Park.

The additional rainfall is not associated with Rachel, but a different weather system moving across the West, Orrison said. The precipitation is forecast to end by Wednesday.

Power was gradually being restored after Hurricane Isaias hit the U.S. Southeast.

At least four deaths have been linked to Isaias, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane Friday near Destin, Florida, a Gulf Coast vacation spot filled with high-rises and tourist shops. The storm then roared into Alabama with tropical-force winds before dissipating farther north.

About 106,000 customers remained without power by Monday evening in the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama, according to poweroutage.com. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he expected nearly everyone to have it restored by Tuesday night and directed all schools to reopen Wednesday.

Drier weather is expected over the next few days across areas of the mid-Atlantic down through the Southeast, including the southern Appalachians.

It will feel “a little summerish” in some of those areas with higher than normal temperatures this week, Orrison said.

Silva Rey reported from Puerto Vallarta and Ding from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Laura Turbay contributed from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Julie Walker from New York.

Waves from post-tropical cyclone Rachel crash into beachfront homes in Long Beach, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Islam Mahfuz salvages contents of their destroyed mini mart in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People walk on the beach after the passing of Hurricane Simon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Waves from post-tropical cyclone Rachel crash into beachfront homes in Long Beach, Calif., Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

A National Guard stands in the spray as a wave hits the seawall brought by the approaching Hurricane Simon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

A jogger passes a boarded up store after the passing of Hurricane Simon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

An apartment complex which had its roof ripped off is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias in Milton, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Waves hit a walkway in front of homes in Long Beach, Calif., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, as Tropical Storm Rachel approaches. (AP Photo/William Liang)