Regional Charisma: The Making of a Student Leader in a Himalayan Hill Town

Abstract

The main thoroughfare in Nainital, a small 'hill town' in Uttarakhand, India, is a place for strolling, gathering, protesting, and being seen. Locally referred to as the "Mall Road," it serves as the main conduit through the busy side of the town's central lake and is lined with various levels of out-facing hotels, homes, restaurants and shops built up against each other in a long row. 1 Many small and cozy eateries serve as college haunts, where students from the local Kumaun University congregate in the afternoons to meet over snacks and tea. Various student leaders also would gather there to meet with friends and supporters, or to network with local activists who were protesting unemployment woes or other concerns facing local youth. 2One afternoon, I was hanging out in one of these small restaurants with "Mahendra," a member of Kumaun University's DSB campus 2 student union. I had arrived in Nainital after his electoral campaign, and so we began chatting about his success. "When we went for nomination in the morning, there was a large procession. They put mālā (garlands) around my neck, and the guys hoisted me up and carried me around on their shoulders," he narrated with earnest pride. He particularly emphasized his style as a leader: "Here leaders don't wear suits, we wear white-colored (khadi) kurta-pajama." He said that his supporters were chanting: Mahendra nahīṁ -ye āṁdhī hai! DSB kā Gandhi hai! [He's not Mahendra-he's a storm! He's the Gandhi of DSB Campus!]. Confirming that they were referring to him, a nascent youth politician, as India's iconic leader of national freedom and self-sufficiency, he explained: Yes, DSB is our college and Mahendra is not a māmūlī vyaktī (ordinary person). They made me Gandhiji, Mahatma Gandhi. It was out of their unkā pyār thā (affection). They felt that, 'Hamārā netā sab se acchā hai' (Our leader is the best). They were trying to impress the other students.

Generational Communities: Student Activism and the Politics of Becoming in South Asia

“…Javid's account concurs with this assessment by indicating that student politics in modern day Pakistan lack ideological cleavages and identifiable ideologies (except for a few more radically inclined smaller groups). This is also partly corroborated by Koskimaki (2020) and Schulz's (2020) contributions. The latter argues that commemoration events on a Bangladeshi university campus, though being ideological at their core, are also "a privileged site for renegotiation of power relations and factional affiliations."…”

“…36 By looking at educated youth as generational communities, it becomes easier to understand how substantive political transfigurations of student attitudes tend to be irrigated by politically informed friendships, romances, peer-to-peer argumentation, student-professor exchanges and learning from charismatic youth (Koskimaki 2020). When such politics is grounded in (at least partly) insulated educational spaces, it tends to develop a character of its own.…”

“…Two popular modalities of youth selffashioning emerge as politically successful. One is based on displays of generosity, service and charismatic strength to ensure responsiveness to the downtrodden and one's community (Snellinger 2018;Michelutti et al 2019;Koskimaki 2020); the other is rooted in signs of forfeiting or asserting one's social status to ensure representation of the downtrodden and one's community while powering student agitations (Martelli 2019b). Thus, student politics is characterized by the injunction to craft coherent narratives of the self (Naudet 2011) both morally acceptable and politically successful, for example through giving back (Garalytė 2020) or netaizing (i.e.…”

Fragments for the Future: Selective Urbanism in Rural North India

“…Rather, they considered it social service (seva), pursued to ensure the future vitality of the village (see also Klenk 2012;Koskimaki 2017). There are parallels here between our account and that of Koskimaki (2017Koskimaki ( , 2019 on youth in another part of Uttarakhand, who were also keen to "develop," and remain within, their home region. Koskimaki also emphasized young people's concern with rural outmigration and fear of "empty villages" as a motivating force for Uttarakhandi youth.…”

The Labouring Practices of Jobless Degree Holders: Rethinking Work, Productivity, and Labour in a Small Hill Town in North India

“…Schut’s (2019) analysis of youth in rural Indonesia, for example, demonstrates how some degree holders draw on skillsets associated with their credentials to forge social uplift in the villages in which they live. Having been unsuccessful in securing jobs in urban settings, Schut’s participants returned home and devised a range of labouring strategies, particularly through teaching, nursing and local politicking, to try and affect development in their communities (see also Koskimaki 2019). These practices were part of a “remarkable responsibility toward collectives” (Schut 2019:93) which were anchored in young people’s intense feelings of belonging in rural settings.…”