India, July 27 -- A day after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation brought an end to a 37-day student-led agitation at Jantar Mantar, protest leaders described the development as a victory for students while asserting that the movement would now expand beyond the national capital. Manish Kumar, a PhD scholar at Allahabad University and Uttar Pradesh State President of the All India Students' Association (AISA), called the resignation the movement's biggest achievement but maintained that the struggle would continue. "MPs and political leaders have assured us that this issue will be raised in Parliament. Beyond this, we will decentralise the movement across campuses, youth networks and citizens across the country to expose what we see as the government's anti-education policies," he said.

Responding to being described as an inspiration, Kumar said the movement was never confined to one institution. While acknowledging JNU's long tradition of democratic resistance, he said the agitation represented a nationwide concern over education and urged incoming students to safeguard public education, employment opportunities and democratic values. Among the most recognisable faces of the protest was Neha Bora, National President of AISA and a PhD scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of Arts and Aesthetics. A theatre practitioner by training, Bora emerged as one of the movement's most vocal leaders. She was among at least six students who launched an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar from a platform separate from the main stage, which the CJP had reserved as a non-partisan space where activist Sonam Wangchuk led his fast. Bora, along with Aameen Amitoj and Manish Kumar, ended her 23-day hunger strike.

Calling the development "a victory for students, not politicians", Bora congratulated protesters across the country and said July 25 would be remembered as the day students compelled a government "to bow before democratic pressure". She also spoke about the challenges of participating in a prolonged protest as a woman, recalling inadequate sanitation facilities, undergoing medical examinations in public view and continuing the fast despite menstruation. Bora said she hoped her participation would encourage more women and young people to occupy public spaces confidently and exercise their democratic right to dissent. Asked what she had as her first meal after ending the fast, she replied simple plate of dal chawal, saying it was all her body could manage after nearly four weeks without food. CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka called the 37-day agitation a movement that "reawakened democracy", crediting students with securing the Minister's resignation.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.