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Every protest has its language. At Manaveeyam Veedhi in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, July 23, it wasn't just raised through slogans, but painted onto cloth, scribbled onto sticky notes, and captured in photographs.
Art was the primary thread that held together the protest in Kerala’s capital, organised in solidarity with students protesting in Delhi over the NEET controversy and the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The Delhi demonstrations, led by students and the satirical Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), gained national attention after videos and photographs of alleged police action against protesters circulated widely on social media. The images, coupled with growing criticism of the NTA following the NEET controversy, prompted students across the country to organise independent demonstrations, including the one at Manaveeyam Veedhi.
What unfolded in the heart of Thiruvananthapuram was also a reminder that protest is not always spoken. Sometimes, it is painted, sung, or quietly written on a sticky note and left behind for a stranger to read.
"Art is the only medium which can be used to communicate with everyone across the world without the barriers of language," said Lakshmi, one of the student volunteers organising the protest.
That belief seemed to bind the evening together.
Posters carried biting political commentary and satire. One wall slowly filled with colourful sticky notes as participants scribbled messages of hope, frustration, solidarity, and resistance and pinned them alongside one another.
The placards reflected the diversity of the crowd. Some borrowed internet humour, while others drew from Kerala's own cultural vocabulary. Malayalam satirical phrases, instantly recognisable to anyone from the state, shared space with slogans that have echoed through protest sites across India over the past few years.
Familiar internet memes had been lifted off phone screens and turned into physical exhibits. Interspersed among them were photographs depicting scenes of alleged police action against protesters, creating a visual timeline of the movement that inspired the gathering in Kerala.
There was also a large cloth mural where anybody could paint or scribble anything they wanted. For one participant, the mural offered something beyond artistic expression. "It's a cathartic exercise for everyone here. It gives people the space to express emotions that they may not otherwise be able to put into words," they said.
"I think art in any form or manner, be it visual art, writing, or poetry, is fundamentally important to us as young people," said Joel, a protestor. "Art is special because it expresses the persona of the artist, but it is also about preserving knowledge and history."
The protest was organised by students with no affiliation to any political party or organisation. More than 1,000 people, the majority of them students, gathered to express solidarity with protesters in Delhi and demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the scrapping of the NTA.
The demonstration also echoed a broader shift in the language of protest among young people. Many of its symbols drew inspiration from the CJP, the satirical movement at the centre of the ongoing student protests in Delhi. Using cockroaches as a symbol of resilience and survival, the movement relies on humour, irony, and performance art to critique authority while making political participation more accessible to young people.
The organisers relied almost entirely on social media to mobilise participants. Organiser Sam Paul said four WhatsApp groups, each with nearly 1,000 members, had been created in the run-up to the event.
