I____nk was thrown at student leader Neha Bora on Friday during a protest in Ranchi against alleged irregularities in recruitment exams in Jharkhand. The police have detained the alleged attacker, PTI reported.

Bora is the president of the All India Students’ Association, the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

The man, who was detained by the police, said that he had targeted Bora because of her support for jailed activist Umar Khalid, PTI reported.

“I do not like Neha Bora because she supports Umar Khalid,” PTI quoted him as saying. “…They are all anti-nationals.”

Khalid has been in jail since September 2020 for his alleged involvement in the communal violence that broke out in North East Delhi in February 2020 between supporters of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act and those opposing it. The violence had left 53 dead and hundreds injured. Most of those killed were Muslims.

Bora alleged that the man shouted “Jai Shri Ram” after throwing ink at her, PTI reported.

“To justify this criminal act, he did the same thing that persons affiliated with the [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] do,” she said. “…He invoked religion.”

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is the parent organisation of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

She also alleged that “RSS-BJP goons” had thrown ink on 20 women, including herself.

The All India Students’ Association also condemned the incident, calling it a “shameful act”. It alleged that BJP- and RSS-linked persons had been running a “hate campaign” against Bora’s participation in the protest.

Bora has emerged as one of the prominent faces of the nationwide youth protests against alleged irregularities in the conduct of competitive examinations.

Last month, she took part a 23-day hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar as part of the protests that led to the resignation of BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan as the Union education minister on July 25.

Protests in Jharkhand

The protests in Jharkhand began on July 25, inspired by the agitation across the country against the alleged mismanagement of national competitive exams. The protesters have been holding a sit-in at Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Munda Stadium, with six demonstrators on fast.

The protesters have demanded the cancellation of the 14th Jharkhand Public Service Commission Combined Preliminary Test held on April 19.

They have also sought independent inquiries by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate into alleged irregularities in recruitment examinations conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission.

Written by Sara Varghese. Edited by Tanya Shrivastava

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