Neha Bora Carries Delhi's pain to Kolkata, calls for resistance

At Jantar Mantar in Delhi, the marks of three days of police crackdowns, barricades and clashes were still visible. The impact of the intense protests that began on October 2 against the Election Commission’s ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR) of electoral rolls, which protesters allege could lead to the deletion of names of crores of voters, reached Kolkata directly. With injuries visible across her body and her voice hoarse from days of continuous sloganeering, AISA national president Neha Bora arrived at a convention at Jadavpur University’s K P Basu Memorial Hall on October 5, carrying with her both physical exhaustion and what she described as state repression.

Organised jointly by Left student organisations, the convention centred on the theme, ‘Gen Z Movement: Unity of Generations and Resistance.’ The platform brought together demands for the withdrawal of the National Education Policy, the abolition of the National Testing Agency (NTA), and the rejection of SIR. When Neha stepped up to the microphone, her address was framed not merely as a speech, but as a call for a collective struggle.

At the outset, she referred to her physical condition, saying that after three consecutive days of protesting on the streets of Delhi, every part of her body felt exhausted—much like the student community across the country, which she said was under attack. But, she argued, the injuries were not an isolated incident.

Describing the connection between the different sites of protest, Neha said, “The condition of my throat, the condition of my body—this is exactly the situation today at Jadavpur University and at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI). And if anyone can understand this pain, it is those of us whose blood has been shed on the streets of Delhi, those who have been attacked in Jadavpur, and those who have been attacked at SRFTI. We understand each other’s pain better than anyone else.”

Targeting what she described as the arrogance and aggression of those in power, Neha said the authorities believed that beating people would force them into submission. Attacks on JNU, Jadavpur University or SRFTI, she argued, could not silence educational institutions.

“They do not understand that the roots of the people who build student movements and mass movements in these institutions are deeply embedded in the traditions of the Left,” she said. “You cannot bring us to our knees by beating us. Whenever anyone in history has tried to subjugate us, people have shown them the power of the people.”

Citing resistance movements in Vietnam, Cuba, Latin America and Iran, she said history had repeatedly shown that authoritarian regimes could be challenged.

A significant part of her speech focused on the process of electoral-roll revision and what she described as an attempt to take away democratic rights. Neha argued that democracy was not merely a theoretical concept on paper but the result of the sacrifices made by freedom fighters. She alleged that attempts to deprive people of their voting rights through various means amounted to an assault on the very spirit of democracy.

“Those who are tearing this Constitution apart today—none of their ancestors shed blood to build this country or its democracy. It was the ancestors of ordinary people whose blood was shed,” she said.

Turning to what she described as attempts by fascist forces to enter Bengal’s political landscape, Neha alleged that mechanisms such as SIR had been created to facilitate the pursuit of power and political dominance in the state. She also referred to what she described as incidents of mob lynching and the demolition of homes with bulldozers. She cited the killing of an ordinary person’s father while demanding repairs to a school, as well as attacks on students at universities.

She alleged that attempts were also being made to introduce political aggression into creative spaces such as SRFTI. But, she warned, Bengal had historically played a leading role whenever the country faced a crisis involving what she described as fascism. According to her, the state would once again have to fight to defend progressive thought.

Speaking about what she described as institutional bias and the control of state machinery, Neha said that when the media, Election Commission, police and administration were allegedly “in the pocket” of the ruling party, those in power assumed that everyone was either afraid or had been bought.

“But across Bengal, across India and across the world, there is a section of humanity that neither fears nor sells itself,” she declared. “That force is the Left. As long as the arrogance of fascism remains, this ideology will continue its struggle until the very last voice remains.”

Towards the end of her speech, Neha, who comes from Uttarakhand, recited a well-known Urdu couplet written in the context of the Vietnamese struggle:

“Chhoti si ek qaum ne himmat hi tod di,

Ek dast-e-naatwan ne to kalai marod di.”

The lines convey the idea that resistance by seemingly small or weak hands can be enough to break the arrogance of a powerful adversary. Neha argued that the Left was not confined to intellectual arguments or the nuances of language; she said history had repeatedly demonstrated how street movements could challenge authoritarian power.

Drawing a direct link between the struggles in Delhi and Kolkata, Neha said the strength of this solidarity marked the beginning of what she described as the end of fascism. Her concluding message was: “When blood is shed in Delhi, Kolkata feels the pain. And when blood is shed in Kolkata, Delhi will surely stand with us.”

She said this pledge of solidarity between the two cities would form the basis of a new resistance, adding that through such mass mobilisation, fascist and reactionary forces would eventually be consigned to the “dustbin of history.”