Rahul’s Neha Bora push triggers resentment in Congress

A trigger was the alleged thrashing of two NSUI activists, Ritu Barala and Adhira, by police during their detention. Despite the two women workers sustaining injuries, none of the party’s top leaders initially visited the hospital.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi bringing AISA student leader Neha Bora to the forefront during INDIA bloc meetings and press conferences has not gone down well with youth and student union workers of the Congress, prompting NSUI activists to change the name of a group to “We the Chotu” for three days.

Sources in the Congress said a sense of uneasiness and insecurity grew among the party’s student wing, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), and its youth wing, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), after Rahul Gandhi openly promoted Bora. She gained prominence during the July student protests over the NEET-UG paper leak and during Opposition protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in voter rolls, particularly the removal of 13.3 crore voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 30 states and Union territories.

Ahead of the Opposition’s protest march to the Supreme Court on Monday, Rahul Gandhi said that all protests against the CEC were part of the same movement.

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During the Opposition march, Bora was called onto the truck where top leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc were standing. This became the trigger point for student activists belonging to the Congress’s NSUI.