Hyderabad, Aug. 17 -- "To be truly in love with this country is to know how broken it is."

Neha Bora, national president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), said this on Sunday evening, August 16, to a venue so full that people had given up on seats. They stood along the walls, sat on the steps, filled the entry way. A few more stood outside the venue listening to a speaker they could not see.

The crowd cut across ages, from Gen Zs capturing the moment with their phones to men and women in their sixties and seventies sitting on chairs intently listening. The crowd was enthralled and charged up as Bora spoke.

Neha Bora was delivering the 15th Hasan Memorial Lecture, held at Lamakaan in Banjara Hills, titled "Young India speak...