All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora has emerged as one of the prominent faces representing student activists – whether it be the paper leak protests earlier this year or the present stir against the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the special intensive revision exercise of electoral rolls.
Bora is a 29-year-old PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the national president of AISA. They have been among the activists detained several times by the Delhi Police over the last week, amid the agitation against the CEC. Bora also led separate protests in the Capital over the issue, with senior advocates Prashant Bhushan and Kapil Sibal also joining them in the protest march last week.
Bora, a research scholar at JNU’s School of Arts and Aesthetics, had always been involved in student politics on campus. The stir eventually led to the resignation of former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Bora had also participated in the protests in Jharkhand over alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission examinations.. During the stir, an unidentified man allegedly threw ink at them, but Bora continued their agitation, saying the incident would not intimidate them. Bora spoke against the denotification of Jantar Mantar as a protest site. “Taking away Jantar Mantar will not take way the resistance. All your attempts to ‘denotify’ democracy by denotifying Jantar Mantar will fail.
Originally from Uttarakhand, they completed their undergraduate studies at Delhi University before pursuing a master’s degree at Ambedkar University Delhi, according to reports. Their political views have differed sharply from their family, according to Bora. In an interview with Frontline, Bora said, “My family is staunch BJP supporters, and we have had very big disagreements in my house. The people will prevail!” they said in a post on X.
