NEET anger finds voice in colours & crowds | Hyderabad News

HYDERABAD : From painted posters at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) to candlelight vigils at Necklace Road and rallies near Charminar, the NEET paper leak controversy sparked a wave of protests across the city on Friday, with students and citizens demanding accountability and reforms in the examination system.At UoH, the protest took an artistic turn as students transformed South Shopcom into an open-air “wall of resistance”. Around 5.30 pm on Thursday, students gathered with palettes, paint, sketch pens and chart paper, turning their anger into posters filled with humour, memes, poetry and pop culture references.As Bollywood songs, English pop and freedom anthems played in the background, messages emerged in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Posters carried slogans such as “Govt doing cardio running away from accountability”, “National Trauma Agency” and “If you’ll redo the NEET, we’ll redo the govt”, while others quoted poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Bol ke lab azaad hain tere”.Memes and messages“It’s not just about making posters. We already held a rally, but students had so much anger over the police action and the exam controversy that they needed an outlet,” said Asika VM of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI). “Many first-year students have never participated in a protest before. This is also about understanding what the campus is feeling before taking the movement forward.”For MA student Yasin A, the posters represented a new language of dissent. “Instagram is full of protest posters now. Sometimes the lyrics don’t matter as much as the energy behind them,” they said.Diya S, an MA student from West Bengal whose sister is preparing for NEET, said art must not overshadow the concerns. “If we only debate the language of protest, we will forget the larger issue of police brutality and exam irregularities,” she said.Students said memes and sarcasm helped connect with a younger audience. “They’re funny on the surface but carry a serious message. That’s how Gen Z communicates,” said Archa MR, a second-year MA student. Another protester said, “Humour is our coping mechanism.”Meanwhile, NSUI organised a rally around 7 pm, with 100 students marching from North Shopcom to the UoH main gate. Speaking to TOI, Rathan Roy, economic adviser to the 13th Finance Commission of India and a professor, said the protests reflected deeper concerns among young people.“This generation is far too intelligent to be hijacked by any narrative. They are facing shrinking opportunities, unemployment and an uncertain future. If the govt dismisses this as manufactured outrage, it will backfire,” he said. Roy said this is perhaps the first large-scale youth protest in decades focused on development, jobs and prosperity.Candlelight rallies heldOn Friday, protests spread across Hyderabad. Hundreds gathered at People’s Plaza on Necklace Road for a candlelight demonstration organised by SFI, CITU and other student groups. Holding mobile torchlights, protesters condemned the alleged police action against students during demonstrations in Delhi and demanded the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. “I’m 70 years old, but I’m still willing to stand here for the future of India,” said B N Sudarshan. A separate protest near Charminar, organised by Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) Telangana, saw 200 participants demanding reforms.