THE 17th all India conference of the Students' Federation of India (SFI) began with a rally and public meeting in Hyderabad on December 13. Thousands of students holding the flag of ‘Independency, Democracy and Socialism’ marched in a rally that culminated in a public meeting at People's Plaza in Hyderabad. The slogans of the students from different parts of the country in different languages reverberated across the meeting place.

Manik Sarkar, former Tripura chief minister and founding vice president of SFI, inaugurated the public meeting that was presided over by SFI all India president, V P Sanu. Manik Sarkar explained the need for a collective resistance against National Education Policy (NEP) which destroys our education system.

The delegate session of the SFI conference began after the public meeting on December 13, at Comrade A Abhimanyu - Dheeraj - Aneesh Khan manch, Mallu swarajyam Nagar. V P Sanu hoisted the SFI flag which was brought from Idukki Engineering College where Comrade Dheeraj was martyred. The delegates and other comrades paid tributes to the martyrs column.

Justice K Chandru and social activist Teesta Setalwad (through a video message) inaugurated the delegate session of the SFI conference. Rajendran, father of martyr Comrade Dheeraj also addressed the inaugural session of the conference.