‘They think they can beat us into submission,’ Neha Bora says in Kolkata

All India Students' Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora at a convention at Jadavpur University, in Kolkata, West Bengal, on October 5, 2026. | Photo Credit: PTI

The authorities think that they can beat dissenters into submission and bring them to their knees, All India Students Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora said in Kolkata at a convention of students from different academic institutions who protested against the crackdown on dissent on Monday (October 5, 2026). Participants called for action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the recent ‘voter crisis’ in West Bengal and elsewhere in India. 

Students from the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), the Indian Statistical Institute, and the Jadavpur University, and various student organisations, participated in the convention to protest against what they termed multiple attacks on the institutions. 

“West Bengal has always defended itself and the entire country... It is now upon Bengal to defend not just itself but our country’s democracy,” Ms. Bora said. The mandate that had brought the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in West Bengal had proven to be a lie, and needed to be challenged, she added.