Prayagraj: A diaper is stuck on one side of a cardboard placard and a red sketch pen is used to draw an arrow with a one-liner – “This is for NTA.” That’s how Lucknow-based activist, Mohd Suhail, chose to lend his support to the students’ protest organised at Eco Garden on Friday (June 12) as he held the diaper poster.Mohd Suhail, a protester at Eco Garden in Lucknow. Photo: Ayushi Singh.National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Education, has been under the scanner following the alleged paper leak incident during the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test-UG (NEET-UG) 2026 exam scheduled earlier in May this year. A total of 13 persons have been arrested so far by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Delhi, Jaipur, Gurugram, Nasik, Pune, Latur and Ahilyanagar in connection with the paper leak case.“In a sarcastic tone, all I want to say is that a diaper worth Rs 10 doesn’t leak but a paper (of an exam) costing Rs 1200 (as entrance fee) gets leaked. My only demand is that the education minister should take responsibility for this and tender his resignation”, said Suhail, while talking to The Wire.A protester at Lucknow’s Eco Garden. Photo: Ayushi Singh.The education minister, here, refers to Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government which has reportedly delegated the task of NEET papers’ transportation to the Indian Air Force for the re-exam. “It needs to be ensured that such paper leaks do not happen again. This isn’t some school-level exam rather a test conducted across the country, and it decides the future of kids. And so if paper leaks continue to happen like this, then who do we trust?” Suhail added.Apart from NEET-related protesters, the agitation on Friday, led by student leaders, saw a turnout of thousands of candidates, mostly those who had either raised concerns about the alleged paper leak in Uttar Pradesh’s Lekhpal exam conducted on May 21, 2026 or were at the forefront demanding the release of scorecards for greater transparency with respect to the Uttar Pradesh Police Sub Inspector exam held between March 14-15, 2026.The Wire spoke with some of these student protesters at Lucknow’s Eco Garden in order to understand what are their demands from the Adityanath government.‘Govt can call us cockroach or any other insect since it can’t offer any job’The Lucknow protest had support from the left-wing students’ organisation, All India Students’ Association (AISA) with the founder of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), Abhijeet Dipke, also joining the protesters in a show of solidarity. Speaking to the protesting students at Eco Garden, and holding a copy of the Indian constitution in one hand, Dipke said, “No one is afraid of asking questions from the government. We have to continue with this agitation. Who all want to carry on with this protest?” Almost everyone in Dipke’s vicinity raised their hands in support.The idea of this satirical party originated after May 15 when Chief Justice of India Surya Kant called youngsters “cockroaches”and “parasites” during a hearing while referring to a lawyer’s social media account. Later, the CJI issued a clarification saying that the media “misquoted” him.“The government can call us cockroaches or any other insect since it can’t offer us jobs anyway,” Amrendra Kumar Singh, a resident of Prayagraj told The Wire. “The TGT [Trained Graduate Teacher] exam which was supposed to be conducted in 2022, will be held now in 2026. Similarly, vacancies for primary schools haven’t been advertised at all since 2018-19,” he added.The Uttar Pradesh government made an announcement regarding the recruitment for 3,539 vacant TGT posts on January 22, 2026, a decision which was pending since the last hiring cycle had concluded in 2022.Similarly, on June 11, 2026, the Adityanath government started gearing up for around 60,000 vacancies in primary schools under the purview of Basic Shiksha Parishad. Protesters at Lucknow’s Eco Garden. Photo: Ayushi Singh.“After sitting for the exam once, we are soon turning out to be overage. So, yes, of course, we are insects and cockroaches in their eyes [referring to the government],” Singh, who had travelled 200 kms from Prayagraj to make it to the protest in Lucknow, added.“Parinaam nahi poora hisaab do (don’t just announce results, fix accountability as well),” stated the poster held by Mohd Faisal, a resident of Barabanki. He had recently appeared for the Uttar Pradesh Police Sub Inspector exam. “Provide us the scorecard and shift-wise normalisation data,” stated the second line in Faisal’s hand-held poster. Normalisation, here, refers to a formula, proposed by Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board (UPPRPB )in 2023, in order to ensure parity for candidates appearing for an exam in different shifts.“I have come here to get answers from the government. Why are the scorecards not being shown to us, I want a response to this question. Hum thode hisaab se mananne wale nahi hain (we won’t be convinced by half-hearted measures),” said Faisal, while speaking to The Wire. Candidates who appeared for this year’s sub inspector exam have been demanding that along with the merit list, UPPRPB should intimate the marks scored by an individual. “Have come here to raise my voice against the leak syndicate being run by the government. This leak syndicate needs to be shut down. I have been a victim myself,” said Jitendra Yadav, who had also come all the way from Prayagraj. In 2024, question papers for the Review Officer/ Assistant Review Officer (RO/ARO) exam in Uttar Pradesh got leaked, following which the Special Task Force had arrested 26 persons from Prayagraj, Lucknow and Bhopal. Jitendra was among 10,76,004 candidates who had applied for the position of RO/ARO, after 411 positions were declared open in October 2023. “Double engine ki sarkar, bana rhi chatron ko berozgar (The double engine government is rendering the youth jobless),” Jitendra conveyed through his multi-coloured poster, the jibe directed at both the BJP-led government in the state and at the Union government. Avdhesh Kumar Sahni, a protester, dressed as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath. Photo: Ayushi Singh.Among hordes of protesters gathered at the Eco Garden yesterday, one man, dressed in saffron robes, drew the maximum attention among reporters. Being called “Duplicate Yogi,” Avdhesh Kumar Sahni, from Uttar Pradesh’s Deoria district thought of making a mark at the protest by dressing up as the chief minister himself. Speaking to The Wire, Avdhesh, who held a poster which read ‘Paper leak pe halla bol (speak out against paper leak)’, said: “I have come here to Lucknow with an appeal to the government that justice be done with these students.”“An ordinance should be brought in to curb the shiksha mafia and the government should ensure that vacancies are duly advertised and filled every year, this is all I want to say,” Avdhesh added.Student leaders detained by Uttar Pradesh PoliceAlthough the call for this protest in Lucknow had largely been given by student leaders, social media platforms like Instagram saw coaching institute teachers also posting videos, as they requested everyone to join the agitation. As reported by The Wire earlier, three coaching institutes – Exampur, Super Climax and Target On – were sealed in Prayagraj on grounds of flouting certain fire safety norms. The owners of these institutes had, however, alleged it was a crackdown by the local administration following their support for a students’ candle light march organised on May 29, 2026, against the alleged Lekhpal paper leak.Tensions had erupted initially in the morning on June 12, 2026, the day of Lucknow protest, when Vivek Kumar, the founder of Exampur Coaching had been allegedly detained by Uttar Pradesh Police in Tundla tehsil of Firozabad district. This was not an exception though. Lekhpal and Uttar Pradesh police sub inspector aspirants come together during protest at Lucknow’s Eco Garden. Photo: Ayushi Singh.Across Uttar Pradesh, there were multiple instances of police detaining student leaders ahead of the protest call. In Kasganj, Students’ Federation of India (SFI) Uttar Pradesh state committee members and district convenor were reportedly placed under house arrest. Similarly, in Prayagraj student leader Sandeep Patel, too, was detained by the police. In Gorakhpur, student leader Satish Prajapati was held in captivity during house arrest for hours. In a statement issued by the AISA Lucknow unit, a reference was made to such stern action by the police in other districts as well. “Despite repeated attempts by the state government to suppress the movement, people did manage to participate in the protest in thousands. From going to the house of our state president, Manish Kumar, and threatening him that a case will be filed to taking several of our colleagues in Raibareilly under house arrest, yet students did take part in protest against paper leak and corruption”, the statement said. Speaking to The Wire, Manish, Uttar Pradesh president for AISA, told this reporter, “On June 11, SHO [station house officer] of the Jiyanpur police station, along with the police force, came to my house. They told my father to have a word with me otherwise a case will be registered.”As per Manish’s version, soon after the SHO left, his father was summoned at the police station and was allegedly detained briefly. Thereafter, some police personnel were stationed outside his house later in the evening on June 11. Photographs shared by AISA Lucknow unit show at least five police personnel, male and female, positioned outside Manish’s residence in Azamgarh. “My hometown address in Azamgarh is not an officially documented one so my understanding is police could have reached there only through mobile surveillance,” said Manish.The Wire spoke with two other student leaders – Mohit Nagar from Noida and Prateek Tiwari from Gorakhpur – both of whom are associated with the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha and were kept under house arrest a day before the protest. Mohit Nagar detained by Uttar Pradesh police. Photo: Instagram.“We have been associated with student protests so their [referring to local administration] apprehension was that Lucknow protest might spark a stir here”, said Mohit, president of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha in Gautam Buddh Nagar. Mohit had been at the forefront of a paper leak protest in Dadri ten days ago in which he was joined by 500-700 protesters. “I was at the railway station when they [police] brought me to the Cantt police station. I was on my way to join a party meeting scheduled in Lucknow,” said Prateek, another member of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha in Gorakhpur. “Since we have remained vocal on issues against the government, they [police] assumed that I was on my way to attend the Lucknow protest. I even told them the purpose of my visit yet they released me only in the morning around 7 am,” he added. Speaking on the legal validity of such preventive detentions by the state police, often justified in the name of maintaining law and order, Ashutosh Kumar Tiwari, lawyer at the Allahabad high court and secretary All India Lawyers’ Union, said: “This is completely unconstitutional as it disrupts democratic process [in this case students trying to mobilise for a protest]. There is no evidence of detention yet the posts on social media can form the basis of challenging this in court.”For Manish, who has been at the forefront of various student agitations lately, including the pro-UGC Equity Rules protests at Allahabad University, it was the pressure tactic of local administration which left him shocked this time. “I had been getting calls from various police officials saying since there’s no evidence why are you trying to discredit the system,” he said, while talking to The Wire. “In fact, one such call came right after I had posted a video online in support of the [Lucknow] protest,” recalled Manish. It was reportedly a police personnel from the state government’s Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) on the other side. “After all you did manage to light a matchstick,” he told Manish.Ayushi Singh is an intern with The Wire based in Lucknow.