AISA national president calls for unity against politics of hate and division

All India Students Association (AISA) national president Neha Bora on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) said that, in the prevailing situation across the country, displaying hatred has become easy, while expressing love and solidarity has become increasingly difficult.

Speaking at a programme ‘Gen-Z Questions,’ jointly organised by the Andhra Pradesh unit of AISA and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) in Vijayawada, Ms. Neha said unity and solidarity among ordinary people struggling for decent wages and a dignified life were the strongest response to the ‘pro-corporate and divisive politics’ of the BJP and RSS.

Ms. Neha criticised both the ruling and Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh for supporting the implementation of NEP-2020 without questioning the Centre’s education policies. She urged students and youth to unitedly resist policies that prioritised political interests over students’ welfare and said they should oppose policies promoting private and corporate educational institutions at the cost of public institutions.

Ms. Neha demanded the immediate repeal of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, alleging that it was turning education from a fundamental right into a commodity. She called for an end to the privatisation and corporatisation of public educational institutions and demanded a substantial increase in government funding for higher education. Imposing a fee burden on students while weakening public education, she said, was against social justice.

She said students were facing several problems from the school level to universities. Governments had failed to provide basic infrastructure in public educational institutions, while school closures, inadequate admissions in government colleges and universities and lack of facilities were putting students’ future at risk.

Referring to repeated failures in the conduct of NTA examinations, question-paper leaks and cancellation of exams, Ms. Neha said lakhs of students had suffered as a result. She accused the Centre of jeopardising the future of students who had spent years preparing for competitive examinations and demanded that the government take responsibility for the NTA failures, scrap the agency, and establish a transparent and accountable national examination system.

Ms. Neha also criticised the Centre for failing to provide adequate employment opportunities to unemployed youth. She said using cases, arrests, detentions and police restrictions to suppress young people protesting for jobs, education and social security amounted to an attack on democratic rights.

Candidates who claimed to have suffered losses in the Mega DSC conducted by the State coalition government met Ms. Neha and submitted a memorandum detailing their problems and seeking resolution.

AISA State president Gauthami presided over the meeting, while the association’s State secretary Nagarjuna, RYA leaders Uday Kiran, H. Vemana, U. Anil Kumar and others participated.