New Delhi: In 1990, the All India Students’ Association (AISA) was founded as the student wing of the CPI(ML) Liberation, opposing what it called the Congress’ “anti-people” economic policies and neoliberal reforms.
Today, some of the organisation’s most successful student leaders have ended up working for the very party AISA was created to fight—aiding and advising senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, writing speeches for his sister and politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, managing the party’s election campaign and running its social media operations.
It is one of the more striking political journeys to emerge from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where the AISA long won elections.
Since 1990, AISA has won the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) presidency 14 times through 13 leaders. While some of its leaders remained with the CPI(ML) Liberation, many exchanged campus activism for classrooms as professors and researchers. Some became political consultants and at least three eventually crossed over to the Congress.
The renewed spotlight on AISA comes after its current president, Neha Bora, ended a 23-day hunger strike during the Cockroach Janata Party-led student protests in New Delhi last month.
Her speeches against Brahminism, the RSS and BJP, along with her participation in activist Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike, have made her one of the country’s most recognisable student leaders. But Bora is only the latest face of an organisation that has shaped JNU politics for more than three decades.
Here’s a look at what AISA’s former JNUSU presidents did after graduating from university.
Chandrashekhar Prasad (President 1994-95 & 1995-96)
Few AISA leaders are remembered as fondly as Chandrashekhar Prasad, better known as Chandu. He first served as JNUSU vice-president in 1993-94 before being elected president for two consecutive terms. A gifted speaker, Chandu played a key role in establishing AISA as one of the strongest political forces on the JNU campus.
He was known for speaking out against communal politics, supporting the Mandal Commission, and arguing that student politics should stay connected to the struggles of workers, farmers and other marginalised communities beyond the university.
After leaving JNU, Chandu returned to his home state of Bihar and became a full-time organiser with CPI(ML) Liberation. Based in Siwan, he worked with landless labourers and Dalit communities, taking on feudal interests and the region’s powerful criminal-politician nexus.
On 31 March, 1997, while addressing a public meeting, he was shot dead in broad daylight along with two others. His killing triggered protests across universities, and in 2012, a special CBI court sentenced three of the gunmen to life imprisonment. While the CPI(ML) Liberation has continued to link his killing with late RJD strongman and gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin, the probe couldn’t establish so.
Today, Chandrashekhar Prasad remains one of AISA’s most iconic figures and is widely remembered as a symbol of Left student activism.
Mona Das (President 2004-05 & 2005-06)
One of the few AISA leaders to win the JNUSU presidency twice, Mona Das represented a generation of student leaders who combined campus activism with scholarship. During her tenure, she focused on public education, democratic student participation and gender equality while helping consolidate AISA’s influence on campus.
Rather than entering electoral politics after leaving JNU, Das chose academia. She currently teaches political science at Delhi University’s Satyawati College and continues to write and teach on questions of democracy, constitutional values and gender. Unlike several of her contemporaries, she has largely stayed away from active party politics and maintains a relatively low public profile.
Sandeep Singh (President 2007-08)
Few former AISA leaders have travelled as far politically as Sandip Singh and that too in mainstream politics. Originally from Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, he first became active in student politics at Allahabad University before joining JNU.
After leaving JNU, Singh gradually moved away from the Left and joined the Congress ecosystem. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he worked closely with Rahul Gandhi, helping draft speeches and advising on campaign strategy and alliance politics. He later became part of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s core team. He now appears to have been sidelined but enjoyed proximity with the Congress high command for several years and elections.
Today, Singh describes himself as a political consultant, researcher and Union Public Service Commission faculty member while continuing to work in political communication. He also reportedly brought in former JNUSU president Akbar Chaudhary to the party later.
Sucheta De (President 2011-12)
Sucheta De became JNUSU president when campus elections resumed after several years, leading AISA back to the forefront of student politics. She focused on democratic student representation, accessible education and opposition to the growing privatisation of higher education.
Unlike several former presidents, De stayed firmly within the Left movement after leaving campus. She is now a central committee member of the CPI(ML) Liberation and continues to play an active role in organisational work, civil liberties campaigns and democratic rights movements across the country. She was seen actively supporting the CJP as well.
Akbar Chaudhary (President 2013-14)
Akbar Chaudhary’s career took him from campus politics into election management. After his time at JNU, he joined political strategist Prashant Kishor’s team and worked on major election campaigns, including those in Bihar and West Bengal.
He later established his own consultancy, Matrix Intelligence, which has handled several political campaigns, including the Congress’ during the 2022 Himachal Pradesh assembly election and 2023 Chhattisgarh assembly election.
Alongside political consulting, he has also taught at Aligarh Muslim University. In 2016, JNU’s Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment cleared him of harassment charges made against him two years earlier.
Ashutosh Kumar Yadav (President 2014-15)
Ashutosh Kumar Yadav chose a quieter path after leaving student politics. Following his presidency, he completed his doctoral research at JNU before joining Lalit Narayan Mithila University in Darbhanga as an assistant professor of political science.
Today, his work is centred on teaching and academic research rather than active politics, making him one of several former JNUSU leaders who transitioned into higher education instead of electoral life.
Mohit Kumar Pandey (President 2016-17)
Mohit Kumar Pandey also moved from Left student politics into the Congress. After leaving JNU, he worked closely with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s political team in Uttar Pradesh before heading the Uttar Pradesh Congress’s social media operations.
His work has since expanded into political communication, campaign strategy, digital outreach and public policy. Like Sandeep Singh, Pandey is among former Left student leaders who eventually shifted to the Congress despite AISA’s longstanding ideological opposition to Congress-era economic reforms.
Geeta Kumari (President 2017-18)
Geeta Kumari remained closely associated with academia after completing her tenure as JNUSU president. She continues her doctoral research at JNU’s Centre of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latin American Studies, where she works on literature, visual culture and Latin American studies. Alongside her research, she writes literary reviews for independent publications and continues to speak on issues relating to public universities, campus democracy and higher education.
N. Sai Balaji (President 2018-19)
N. Sai Balaji has combined academics with continued political engagement. Since 2024, he has been teaching political science while researching international relations, climate negotiations, trade and environmental politics. He continues to remain associated with AISA and frequently participates in discussions surrounding higher education, democratic rights and public policy.
Dhananjay (President 2023-24)
Dhananjay marked AISA’s return to the JNUSU presidency after several years. During his tenure, he raised issues including fellowship delays, hostel shortages and funding for public universities. After leaving office, he entered active electoral politics with the CPI(ML) Liberation and unsuccessfully contested the Bihar assembly election last year from Bhorey in Gopalganj. Alongside his political work, he continues pursuing a PhD in theatre and performance studies at JNU while campaigning on unemployment, migration and education.
Nitish Kumar Yadav (President 2024-25)
Nitish Kumar Yadav continues as a doctoral scholar at JNU’s Centre for Political Studies, where his research examines caste and the judiciary. His presidency coincided with increasing confrontation between students and the university administration.
In February 2026, JNU rusticated him for two semesters and barred him from entering the campus after protests against biometric attendance and facial recognition systems. The disciplinary action drew criticism from several student organisations and became one of the biggest campus controversies of the year. Nitish is seen at anti-government protests as of now and has contested his rustication.
Aditi Mishra (President 2025-26)
Aditi Mishra became JNUSU president in 2025, extending AISA’s electoral success. Her campaign focused on affordable education, fellowships, hostel shortages and student welfare. She has since emerged as one of the country’s most recognisable student leaders, grabbing attention for her speeches on caste, higher education and opposing government policies.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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