‘We were never seen as a mind, only as a vote’: Neha Bora on India’s student resistance and the fight for democracy

All India Students Association national president Neha Bora with former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Sai Balaji at the 15th Annual Hasan Memorial Lecture titled ‘Young India Speaks: Jantar Mantar and the Way Forward’ at Lamakaan in Hyderabad on Sunday. | Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR “Youngsters in India were never seen as having a mind. They were always seen only as a vote,” said All India Students’ Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora in Hyderabad on Sunday (August 16), arguing that the growing student movements across the country were challenging a political system that treated young people primarily as electoral constituencies rather than citizens with independent ideas.Speaking at the 15th Annual Hasan Memorial Lecture, ‘Young India Speaks: Jantar M