On 23 July, two days and a few hours after one of the darkest days independent India has seen, Neha Bora stood at Jantar Mantar to address a crowd of young Indians. The 29-year-old research scholar, national president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), had also just broken a 23-day hunger strike. But the verve with which she spoke gave no evidence of the toll her body must have taken.

And the leitmotif of her rousing speech — ‘sab yaad rakha jaayega’ — will be remembered too. She was talking about the fateful march towards Parliament, which had exposed the brutal face of a government that gave free rein to the Delhi Police, the Rapid Action Force and unidentified private militia to brutalise protesters. If anybody felt momentarily defeated by that naked exhibition of State violence, her undaunted spirit would have buoyed them.

Speaking later to one of many adoring mediapersons (yes, they too survive, like cockroaches!), she said, quoting one of her comrades, that hope must be exercised like a muscle. “When we can’t find hope, we can exercise that muscle, not only for ourselves but for the people around us.”

Nandlal Sharma caught up with her to talk about the road ahead. Excerpts:

How would you define this protest? What was it fundamentally about?

It began with a central demand: Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. But you saw what happened afterward.

The system has deteriorated so much that even if the government wants to stop paper leaks, it can’t. UGC-NET papers were circulated before the exam. CUET candidates were kept waiting for hours because servers failed, only to be told their exams would be rescheduled, even as other students wrote theirs the same day. CBSE evaluation errors resulted in marks being awarded to the wrong students. These are not isolated mistakes. They reflect systemic failure.

Also Read: AISA challenges Supreme Court’s ‘criminal record’ clause, condemns targeting of student protesters

The same pattern exists in government recruitment. Notifications are issued, examinations are delayed for years, papers leak, and results don’t arrive on time. Stu- dents are sick and tired of this cycle of uncertainty.

Instead of acknowledging these failures, Dharmendra Pradhan called protesting students........

© National Herald