Lucknow: Ahead of Independence Day, Uttar Pradesh’s youth and artists are getting a creative platform to speak their minds — through paint, poetry and music — as part of the state’s ‘Rang De Basanti’ campaign.
On Wednesday, a graffiti wall event near Lucknow University became the latest stage for this initiative, drawing local artists who spent the day turning a public wall into a canvas depicting a “mafia-free,” changing Uttar Pradesh. Their murals captured everything from law and order to the Metro, roads and infrastructure — visually contrasting the state before 2017 with where it stands today.
Painting the Change, Live
Using nothing but colour and imagination, the artists brought to life the shift in the state’s law-and-order situation, its infrastructure, and the broader environment for young people. Among them, young painter Manish Saroj created a piece that captured the pain of a state once gripped by mafia rule before 2017 — set against a hopeful, transformed picture of UP today.
The Lucknow event was just one leg of a larger campaign running across UP from August 11 to 14, built around the theme “Gun ki jagah brush, dar ki jagah dialogue” — brush instead of gun, dialogue instead of fear.
Students Put Infrastructure and Change on Canvas
Ranjeet, a student at Lucknow University, said the platform is essentially young people’s way of telling the story of change in the state through the ‘Rang De Basanti’ campaign. The murals, he explained, deliberately focus on infrastructure development, Metro expansion, improved roads and public safety — all things he says have visibly transformed over the past several years. The goal, he added, is for young people to use colour and art to show the public a different picture of the state than the one many still carry in their minds.
A Call for Peaceful Expression
Fellow student Aman Shukla used the platform to appeal to young people to raise their voices peacefully. Students and youth, he said, absolutely have the democratic right to protest over issues that matter to them — but that right should never be used as cover for violence, rioting or unrest. Through ‘Rang De Basanti’, he said, the message being sent to the country and the state is simple: protest and self-expression don’t need to be destructive — they can be creative. Art, music and dialogue, he believes, are powerful enough to carry a generation’s voice.
Brush Instead of Gun, Dialogue Instead of Fear
For the artists involved, these walls have become more than just painted surfaces — they’re spaces for social conversation and youth expression. Running across multiple cities in UP from August 11 to 14, the campaign is built around poetry, art, music, dialogue and digital expression, all rooted in one core idea: brush over gun, dialogue over fear. The aim is to nudge young people away from fear and pressure, and toward expressing themselves in ways that are positive, peaceful and creative — a fitting, forward-looking message just days before Independence Day.
Up Next: Muzaffarnagar’s Comic and Dialogue Session
The campaign continues on August 13 in Muzaffarnagar with a comic-book distribution and dialogue programme, featuring an original comic built around the theme of communal harmony, alongside interactive sessions with students in schools. Then, on August 14, the campaign’s anthem — ‘Dar Se Azadi’ (Freedom from Fear) — will be launched, bringing together rap, music and digital art in one final push before the campaign wraps up.
