The idolisation of Neha Bora

Neha Bora-inspired art where they are being compared to Rani Laxmibai, who fought in the freedom struggle against the British colonial regime in India. Pic/Instagram@gitm_glitch.in.the.matrix

The problem with Neha Bora becoming India's latest "Gen Z crush" is not them, it's us.

In the span of a few months, the AISA president and student activist ­ - who goes by they/them pronouns - has gone from one among several people in India's protest ecosystem to becoming the face of young political dissent. Their speeches go viral. Their Instagram comment section is full of hearts, fire emojis, and declarations of admiration. One recent social media post even called them a "complete Gen Z icon" with an "absolutely ridiculous aura" - a compliment that CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke simply responded to with, "I agree."

Here, we see that the politics has begun to get lost in the personality.

Bora has been at the centre of several recent protests, including the student-led mobilisation over examination irregularities and, more recently, demonstrations demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. They were among more than 100 protesters detained at Jantar Mantar on October 2.

But scroll through the Internet, and it is getting increasingly difficult to separate the activist from the celebrity that we have deemed them to be.

Aisa President Neha Bora. Pic/PTI

There are people calling Bora a "Gen Z crush". There are comments that treat them as a love interest rather than a political organiser. On one of Bora's Instagram posts, comments range from "NEHA BORA YOU ARE TOO GOOD" with a string of hearts and raised-fist emojis, to abusive political attacks calling them "desh ka gaddar" and worse.

In an interview, Bora spoke about the "fetishisation of the individual" in Indian politics and specifically brought up Kanhaiya Kumar. Their point was that people become obsessed with finding one "pure leader" around whom they can rally, when movements are actually made up of many people. And yet we appear to be doing exactly that to Bora. There are artworks dedicated to the activist, fan edits being made of them. Some disgusting comments from opposition call them "Leftist ki Sydney Sweeney".

Remember Kanhaiya Kumar? A decade ago, he was the face of student politics for an entire generation. The JNU student leader became a household name after the 2016 campus protests, and the sedition case that followed. His speeches, slogans, and TV appearances turned him into a larger-than-life figure. Today, he is a politician in Congress, but the cultural frenzy around him has largely disappeared. The person remained; the Internet moved on. That's politics for you.

Indian politics has a peculiar appetite for discovering a new face, crowning them as the voice of a generation and then moving on to the next one. Today it is Bora. Tomorrow it could be somebody else.

You can admire Bora. You can agree or disagree with their politics. You can find their speeches compelling. You can follow their work. But the moment an activist becomes an idol, critical engagement becomes much harder. We stop asking whether an argument sounds good because we like the person making it. We start defending a personality instead of examining their politics. That gives any individual far too much power.

Bora is not a messiah. They do not need to be one. Neither did Kanhaiya Kumar. Neither does Abhijeet Dipke. Neither does any activist who happens to become the face of a viral movement. The irony is that Bora seems to understand this better than their admirers do.

Let Bora be an activist. Watch what they say, challenge it. Support it when you believe in it. But the protest cannot become about the protestor. The moment that happens, we have already gone in the wrong direction.