AISA backs Cockroach Janta Party’s 5 September protest march in Delhi

The All-India Students’ Association (AISA) has extended its support to the Cockroach Janta Party’s proposed 5 September march in Delhi, which will demand the withdrawal of FIRs against protesting students and an investigation into alleged police firing during previous demonstrations.

AISA president Neha Bora said on Wednesday that the issues behind the youth mobilisation remained unresolved, with cases continuing against students despite an earlier government commitment to withdraw them.

“The government must fully withdraw all cases. There should be an inquiry into the firing of pellets and bullets, and the government must be fully prepared to take accountability for the same,” Bora told PTI.

She said students who had participated in protests against the government continued to face legal proceedings, making renewed mobilisation necessary.

The Abhijeet Dipke-led Cockroach Janta Party has announced that it will resume peaceful protests after suspending its mobilisation for a month following negotiations with the Centre.

The proposed march will be held on Teachers’ Day and is expected to be led by families of students who died by suicide following the cancellation and subsequent re-conduct of the NEET examination. Those who were allegedly subjected to police excesses during the July agitation are also expected to participate.

Bora, who held a 23-day hunger strike alongside climate activist Sonam Wangchuk in Delhi over the NEET paper leak last month, accused the government of making meaningful dialogue with ordinary citizens increasingly difficult.

“The entire point of why students and youth had come out on the streets was that this government has made it impossible for the common people to have a dialogue with them,” she said.

The AISA leader said her organisation would support democratic, secular and progressive movements seeking accountability from the government. Bora had also participated in demonstrations over alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations in Jharkhand.

Referring to families affected by the NEET controversy, she said the authorities should have acknowledged their concerns at the beginning of the agitation.

“If this government is not willing to listen to the affected, then it only shows their inhumanity,” said Bora, a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University. AISA is affiliated with the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.

Asked how the government might respond to the renewed mobilisation, Bora said a democratic administration should listen to people seeking dialogue, though she could not predict its reaction.

Delhi Police has said that it has not yet received a request seeking permission for the September 5 march and that any application will be examined.

Bora said AISA would wait for the police’s response but maintained that the right to protest should not depend on official permission.

“There have been many protests in the past without police permission being granted, and we are those people who stand by the democratic principle that protests do not need permission,” she said.

Bora added that AISA’s support was not limited to demanding the withdrawal of criminal cases. It also covered broader issues confronting students, including the centralisation of examinations and protests over rights and accountability at state, university and college levels.

She said the organisation would continue its campaign on concerns arising from centralised testing systems such as the National Testing Agency and NEET, while supporting student movements across the country.

With PTI inputs