When you express solidarity with others, you come back strengthened. That’s something Shabana Azmi always believed in. And the veteran actor experienced it over the past three days as she joined the ongoing protests — led by Abhijeet Dipke’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) — at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding education reforms and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak. 

Since July 19, Azmi has been at Jantar Mantar, even joining thousands of youth in the Chalo Sansad march on July 20. Talking to mid-day from New Delhi, she said, “These young people have been pushed to the wall, and they have chosen to resist with courage and dignity.”