Then there were the others, the hard core of the protest – the young men and women who had braved tear gas and police lathis on Monday. Many from this group have been sitting at Jantar Mantar for several days.

This group periodically raised slogans – the generic “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, along with pointed attacks at the Prime Minister. “Jab Jab Modi darta hay, police ko aage karta hay (Whenever Modi is afraid, he pushes the police forward),” they chanted.

There were those who had clear political affiliations. Members of the Left student organisation AISA had been sitting on a hunger strike along with Sonam Wangchuk. On Tuesday, men wearing Congress Seva Dal T-shirts distributed food and water.

Congress Seva Dal volunteers distribute food and water at the NEET paper leak protest at Jantar Mantar (Express Photo by Swapnil Joglekar)

A human chain of CJP volunteers stood between the crowd and the police barricades.

“We are here to ensure that people don’t move towards the police. Hum ek kadam badhaayenge toh wo dum kadam aayenge. Kal Pakistani to ghoshit kar hi diya tha… (If we take one step towards them, they will take 10 steps. They have already labelled us ‘Pakistanis’…),” a volunteer said.

As the chants grew louder, police asked them to not raise slogans or to take the protest outside the designated area – else, “necessary action will be taken”. The protesters were not cowed – large groups of them broke into coordinated clapping, mocking the police.

The show of force by police on Monday did not seem to have dampened spirits – the mood appeared exuberant, energetic, and defiant instead. A protester held up a poster that read, “They came for justice. They got tear gas and lathi charge.”

Several protesters expressed incredulousness at the Prime Minister’s statement that the government had acted immediately after reports of the paper leak surfaced and had taken “strict steps” to prevent future leaks. “Agar kar diya hota to hum sab yahaan kyun hote? (Why would we protest if the government had taken appropriate action),” asked a protester.

A college student who gave her name as Manasvi said paper leaks were extremely disheartening for those who confine themselves to their homes for months to prepare.

Protesting against the government did not mean that they supported one or the other party from the opposition, she said. “It is about accountability,” she said – “the previous (UPA) government had many faults, but the good thing about the earlier PM (Manmohan Singh) was that he would at least come and speak to the press.”

Nineteen-year-old Khushi Rawat said that instead of taking accountability for its actions after tens of thousands of people turned up for the protest march, the authorities had resorted to lathi charges.

“Some of my friends could not join me today because they were injured yesterday,” she said. “The government needs to take accountability after 21 students died by suicide after the NEET paper leak.”