Kolkata: For many young students, Friday’s protest was their first experience of taking to the streets. Samuel Lee (19) and Karine Jane (19), both second-year students of Scottish Church College, called it their “first brush with protest on the roads”. It was the same for Areena Roshan (18), Tasneem Saba (19) and Celina Tirkey (19), all first-year law students at Heritage Law College.Lee said he had stayed away from politics despite voting this year. “I was always apprehensive about politics. But when the NEET exam leak came into the public domain, I kept wondering if I, as a youth, needed to protest. Then the Delhi Police lathi charge on students happened and I was convinced it was not right. When I came across news about the protest in Kolkata, I was initially apprehensive to join, wondering if the cops will act similarly. But Jane convinced me to come here. I now realize that thousands like me felt empowered to come here too.”“I am here as a Gen-Z representative. I will keep protesting on any forum where such issues will be discussed,” said Jane.Areena, Tasneem and Celina stood with placards laced with sarcasm, and joined in the sloganeering. “This is the first time we participated in any protest. During the R G Kar movement, we were in school, and did not participate. The govt must be accountable to its citizens, and by demanding resignation of the Union education minister, we just want accountability from the govt,” said Areena, who is from Murshidabad.Celina said she had not told her family that she was at the protest. “As a young citizen, I know how it feels when dreams are broken. So I am here to make my voice heard,” she said.Miftaul Molla, a BDT student from Howrah, joined a street protest for the first time on Friday, going against his parents’ wishes. He said his decision was driven by what happened to his brother. “My brother secured 636 marks in NEET. But then it got cancelled due to the leak. He appeared in the re-NEET and secured only 432 marks. He lost his chance and remains demoralised. I decided to protest on his behalf,” Molla said.Saptak Dey, a student of Asutosh College, said he had stayed away from the R G Kar protests even though his parents had participated. This time, he decided to join from the beginning. “This time, as a young adult, I decided to join the protest from its onset. A few of my friends got together and decided to join since we knew what happened with Sonam Wangchuk should not happen in a democracy, and what happened to students at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar has no place in a civil society. We want the administration to listen to our grievances,” Dey said.Many made their own posters — some humorous, others sarcastic, like “Are you hibernating? Can’t you hear us?” and “Don’t waste our time. Resign”, and shouted their hearts out to “Azaadi” and “Inquilab Zindabad” slogans.
