Rangoli becomes resistance as Domadugu villagers protest Hetero during Sankranthi
HYDERABAD: The simmering frustration of Domadugu’s residents has erupted into a vivid, multi-format public outcry during the Sankranthi festival. Village streets and chowrasthas (town squares) are now alive with the colours of resistance, each corner echoing the community’s struggle to endure. The villagers’ anguish and demands are not just expressed in slogans but also in art. Traditional Rangoli or Muggu patterns bloom across the ground, transforming a cherished custom into a bold act of defiance.
With every swirl of Rangoli and Muggu, villagers have made their demand impossible to ignore, they call for the immediate and permanent shutdown of Hetero Drugs Unit-1, the source they blame for relentless pollution.
The protest has turned the village itself into a living canvas of defiance. Slogans in English and Telugu, meticulously drawn on the earth, reveal a community pushed to its limits. Vivid images of factory smokestacks stand side by side with blooming flowers, leafy trees, and a radiant sun, all circling around urgent pleas: “STOP POLLUTION,” “HETERO DRUGS UNIT-1 CLOSE CHEYALI,” and “SAVE DOMADUGU.”
This visual campaign highlights how deeply the community’s cultural roots intertwine with the environmental crisis that threatens to erase their way of life.
Notably, the messages grow sharper and more urgent, each one a testament to the villagers’ belief that the system has abandoned them. Their disappointment is matched by unwavering demands, spelled out in bold inscriptions: “HETERO DRUGS UNIT-1 CLOSE CHEYALI” and “STOP POLLUTION / HETERO / DRUGS UNIT-1 / CLOSE CHEYALI.” There is no mistaking who they hold responsible or what they want done, said TPJAC District President Y. Ashok Kumar.
Sankranthi art becomes protest
The protest takes a poignant turn with the integration of a traditional art form. A vibrant, colorful Rangoli-style mural, typically used for celebrations, has been repurposed into a powerful symbol of protest. At its heart lies a split globe, depicting smokestacks on one side and lush trees on the other, overlaid with the heartfelt pleas, “Save DOMADUGU,” “SAVE EARTH,” “STOP POLLUTION.” This artwork powerfully connects the local struggle to a global environmental crisis, using beauty to deliver a stark message.
Significantly, these hand-drawn rangoli designs make the protest deeply personal, as villagers inscribe their hopes and grievances onto the very soil they call home, weaving their stories into the land itself.
Moreover, these images capture the momentum of a movement gaining strength and unity. The messages echo the recent mass protests led by the Anti-Pollution Struggle Committee, where villagers warned they would boycott municipal elections unless their voices were heard. The rangoli art stands as a vivid, unmissable reminder of their ultimatum, demanding attention from everyone who passes through the village.
According to Ashok Kumar, the consistent repetition of “HETRO DRUGS UNIT 1 CLOSE CHEYALI” and the final, desperate “save DOMADUGU” transforms these words from mere slogans into a unified community manifesto.
