New Delhi: All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora’s “Brahmanvaad” remark has not gone down well with INDI Bloc leaders.
With Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh approaching, the Samajwadi Party distanced itself from the statement made by the left-wing student leader during her attack against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar for alleged regularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll.
“Making such a sweeping statement is not appropriate. Every religion has both good and bad people; we shouldn’t make such generalisations… We should avoid them,” Samajwadi Party leader Rajeev Rai said while reacting to Bora’s “need freedom from Brahmanvaad” remark.
He accused the BJP of following the strategy of dividing people, saying: “That is exactly what the BJP wants; why should we fall into their trap?”
“In this day and age, the kind of rhetoric being used is simply unacceptable. There is no basis for it. We shouldn’t make sweeping generalisations about any caste, community, religion, or region,” Rai, who represents the Ghosi Lok Sabha constituency in UP said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also called Bora’s assertions “unfortunate”, saying radical thinking, be it from the Right or the Left, is harmful to the nation.
“It is highly unfortunate. While I believe this may be an old video, it reveals a mindset that asserts rapes happen in temples, are committed by priests, and that Brahmin women are unsafe. I generally avoid focusing on caste, but as a Brahmin woman myself, I must ask: is it appropriate to use such derogatory language? I have always maintained that this kind of radical thinking-whether from the Left or the Right-is harmful to the nation,” the former Rajya Sabha member said, as reported by timesnow.in.
She would like to “sit down with Bora and explain that not everything should be viewed through the lens of caste or religion”, Chaturvedi said.
The student leader had earlier criticised Bora over a video showing her criticising the “Brahmanical system”, with party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accusing her of spreading “Hindu hate”.
Calling Bora the “poster girl” of what he described as Rahul Gandhi’s anti-Hindu politics in a post on X, Bhandari also linked the AISA leader’s comments to an earlier statement by the Congress leader on the safety of women.
“Neha Bora poster girl of Rahul Gandhi, displays her Hindu hate,” Bhandari wrote, adding, “She is inspired by Rahul Gandhi, who earlier said ‘Mandiro main ladkiyon ke sath ched chad hoti hai’.”
“Congress Hates Hindus, loves vote bank! Congress Soch is a threat to India’s unity!” Bhandari posted.
In the video, Bora is heard speaking about women’s safety and criticising the Brahmanical system. She reportedly referred to the Unnao and Kathua cases while making her remarks.
The remarks triggered a political row after the video surfaced on social media. Notably, the clip is undated, and the circumstances in which Bora made the comments could not be independently verified.
