Neha Bora | Constancy of agitation

Illustration by Sreejith R. Kumar

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. Many of us may not be here to greet her, but if I listen very carefully on a still day, I can hear her breathing.” In 2024, Neha Bora cited this quote by Arundhati Roy, calling her work “a bridge to the possibility of a different or better world”.

Today, amid widespread protests in Delhi against the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls and state intervention, Neha, 29, a PhD student at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and a non-binary person who uses their/their pronouns, is at the center of the movement. Neha, the current president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), came into limelight during the 23-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar that began on June 28. The protest culminated in the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Also read | “Coordination with CJP on agenda but alliances always on radar”: Neha Bora

For Neha and her team, they’re not doing “anything different from what they’ve been doing for the past few years” — they’re protesting for what they believe in. Videos of Neha being detained by police during protests in the city four years ago are resurfaced and compared to footage from the activist’s recent arrest.

However, recently people whom Neha supported in the past came forward to support the youth protest. One example is the survivor of the Unnao rape case, the cause of which had made Neha protest earlier. The goodwill that Neha has built up over years of activism is now translating into support from all quarters, Neha’s comrades say.

Hailing from Uttarakhand, Neha’s political journey began with a theater group during her undergraduate years at Delhi University. Neha’s family supports the BJP government, which the young leader is determined to challenge, but attitudes in the family have begun to change. Since the Jantar Mantar Neha protest, the mother has been supporting the daughter’s activism in her own way – by calling to remind them to rest and be ready for the next protest. Police actions and detentions sometimes frighten those close to Neha. But Neh seems undeterred. “We took to the streets knowing that we might be detained, roughed up, bruised. But what about the people who are bruised, broken, raped and killed through no fault of their own?” Neha said recently.

On the front lines

Even away from the public eye, Neha speaks softly, but her voice rises when she talks about how women and queer people have borne the brunt of the BJP’s wrath. They will therefore be in the “first line of resistance”, says the AISA president. Neha has worked on gender issues for years, from protesting the release of bail for men convicted in the rape of Bilkis Ban to serving as a student representative on their college’s internal grievance committee. For this generation, humor is a way of responding to everything that is wrong with the system, says Neha. They speak his language: they call Gyanesh Kumar “Gyanu”, use memes to connect with each other and live-stream protests. None of this is a coincidence, says Neha, acknowledging that a generation often viewed as having a sense of “mystique” likes to “break fear with comedy and satire”. Having studied at Delhi University, Ambedkar University and JNU, Neha is a well-known figure among students in the capital, many of whom stood behind the protest. Support continued to flow. Among those who visited the hunger strikers, including Neha, at Jantar Mantar in June and July was Arundhati Roy, who thanked them for their struggle.

On Friday (October 16, 2026), Neha was detained as the activist headed to central Delhi with dozens of comrades. Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke was also detained. “Please spare the people of India,” Neha said after they were released on Saturday (October 17, 2026). “Indict Gyanesh Kumar and stop SIR so that the common citizens of this country can breathe a sigh of relief, feel good and have their voting rights secured,” Neha added, vowing to continue the agitation.

Published – 18 Oct 2026 01:49 IST