AISA holds ‘victory meet’ at Arts Faculty

New Delhi: The All India Students’ Association (AISA) held a “victory meet” at the Arts Faculty on Thursday, celebrating the role of students in the Jantar Mantar protest that led to the resignation of former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan

New Delhi: The All India Students’ Association (AISA) held a “victory meet” at the Arts Faculty on Thursday, celebrating the role of students in the Jantar Mantar protest that led to the resignation of former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The meet was joined by several first-semester Delhi University students, who said they closely followed the Cockroach Janta Party-led protest on social media.

Vaishali Singh, 19, who is pursuing an undergraduate course with the Department of Germanic and Romance Studies, said the protest was one of the factors that excited her about Delhi’s college life.

Calling the violence during the July 20 protest march “completely unnecessary,” Singh said she did not understand how a peaceful protest escalated into such a dramatic confrontation.

“I supported the protest from the start. I am from Jharkhand, and there’s not a single exam, particularly recruitment-related, that isn’t leaked. So while the protest might have been a new thing for me, these issues are old,” claimed Singh.

Another student from West Bengal, Saanvi, a first-year master’s student in anthropology, said she came to meet AISA national president Neha Bora, who observed a 23-day hunger strike during the protest.

“I am a huge supporter of Neha. I have been following her speeches online and I like her stance on issues such as education, caste, and gender, especially because I belong to one of the marginalised communities,” she said. “I came to Delhi on July 24, just a day after the minister resigned.”

Amid security personnel deployment, AISA members carried flags and portraits of Bhagat Singh and BR Ambedkar and marched through the campus while raising slogans.

Addressing students, Bora said, “Many of you were not here and watched the protest unfold on your phones. But I want to tell you that the most important takeaway from this movement is that GenZ, GenAlpha, and the generations that follow do not believe in division in any form. This protest has instilled a sense of responsibility in the younger generation to stand up for change”.

Another first-year student from Miranda House, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “It has just been 4-5 days since I have been to Delhi and I have no guardian here. I had mixed feelings about joining the protest as anything could have happened. My parents were also worried about sending me after the lathi charge and tear gas. But today my seniors from college were coming, so I accompanied them”.