Bangladesh’s Gen-Z inspired Indian youth Neha Bora

Neha Bora, National President of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), shouts from a police vehicle after being detained during a protest organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) seeking the resignation of India’s Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar, in New Delhi, India, 10 October, 2026.

Neha Bora, president of the All India Students’ Association (Aisa), has praised Bangladesh’s Gen-Z movement for inspiring young people in India to stand up for democracy and voting rights.

Meanwhile, Two top leaders of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been sent to jail for five days after being arrested for allegedly trespassing at a protest site in Delhi.

Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka appeared before a magistrate on Wednesday after being detained at Jantar Mantar, a longstanding venue for demonstrations that police recently removed from the city’s list of authorised protest sites.

The two were among a group who climbed a locked gate and crossed barricades to enter the site on Tuesday.

The GenZ-led movement has been protesting for days seeking electoral reforms and the resignation of India’s top election official over allegations of vote fraud – charges the poll panel denies.

In a video message marking the sixth national conference of Socialist Student Front on Wednesday Neha expressed solidarity with the Bangladeshi student organisation and said young activists in India were drawing inspiration from movements led by their counterparts in Bangladesh.

“We extend our solidarity to you. We take inspiration from you, lessons from the movements that you lead,” she said.

She also credited Bangladesh’s Gen-Z movement with showing young people in India a path towards collective action.

“Revolutionary greetings to the Socialist Students Front on your sixth National Conference. We present you our red salute. And we know that the Gen-Z movement that we are seeing everywhere in this country first started in Bangladesh. And congratulations to you for showing us the way,” she said.

Neha said young people in India were also participating in and leading movements to defend democratic and voting rights, drawing parallels between the struggles of students in the two neighbouring countries.

She expressed hope that students and activists from Bangladesh and India would work together to build a better South Asia and a better world.

Neha Bora was detained and subsequently released by the Delhi Police multiple times between October 2 and October 11, 2026. The detentions occurred during ongoing student-led protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

Bora was first detained on October 2 near Jantar Mantar and again on October 4 during a march. Most recently, she was intercepted near the Safdarjung Airport flyover on October 10 and held at the Maidan Garhi Police Station, followed by another brief detention on October 11 at the Narela Industrial Area police station before being released each evening.