A little over a week after former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, independent journalist Nikita Saxena caught up with Neha, a doctoral student and president of the All India Students' Association (AISA), for a freewheeling conversation. Along with fellow AISA activists Aameen, Amitoj and Manish, the AISA president went on a 23-day hunger strike demanding Pradhan’s resignation over repeated exam paper leaks.  

During their conversation, Neha spoke about the personal and the political. They recalled the difficulties and support they experienced while on hunger strike; the immediate aftermath of Pradhan’s resignation; as well as the Islamophobic, gendered, and casteist state repression that followed. 

Neha identified the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Education Policy (NEP) as being central to injustices within India’s education system, concluding the conversation by speaking about hope as a muscle that must be exercised with collective solidarity. They quoted a statement popular within Left organisations: “If I am witness to your oppression, I must also be witness to your liberation.”

Watch the full conversation. 

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