Inside Jamia’s biggest protest since 2019: ‘If DU and JNU can have a Union, why can’t we?’

Rehan Khan, a master’s student of social work, sat on the floor of the Political Science building on Saturday, pale and tired, in a dark green T-shirt and grey trousers. It was his twelfth day without food. “Our breaking point was oppression,” he said.

“For something as basic as fixing a water cooler, we went to the administration and were neglected, reprimanded, denied. So I decided to sit on a hunger strike and demand fair representation for students.” Downstairs and across the compound of Jamia Millia Islamia University, the demand was written on the walls.

Fresh graffiti showed green and red hands raised together above the words “JMISU Revival.” Another wall read “Inquilab,” or revolution. By Saturday afternoon, nearly 500 students stood in small clusters around Gulistan-e-Ghalib and the Express canteen beside the political science department.

They shouted slogans, made plans and sipped tea. As rumours of a crackdown spread, they said their resolve only hardened. On Sunday, with the stand-off on its thirteenth day, Jamia moved all classes online. On Sunday morning, security personnel closed the university’s main entry and exit gates, and about 300 police officers were stationed outside.

It is the largest student protest at Jamia since the 2019 protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Five students are on the fast: Ebin Basil, Jasim Khan, Rida Naushad Khan, Rehan Khan and Rehan Hyder. Jasim studies West Asian studies, Rida geography, and Rehan Hyder international relations.

Several were sitting quietly on Saturday, tiredness showing on their faces. Ebin, a third-year law student, sat barefoot on the stairs, also on his twelfth day without food. “We locked ourselves in the political science building so the administration could not remove us,” he said.

“My slippers were lost in the scuffle.” He said every hunger striker has faced disciplinary action. “I have a one-year rustication notice against me, and Rehan has one for six months,” he said. Ebin said a union would carry issues the mainstream does not.

“After the CAA-NRC protests, they clamped down on us more. They don’t want an alternate voice, a loud dissent from the heart of Delhi,” he said. “But this issue is internal to our university. A students’ union is the university’s own affair, and there should be no involvement of the government or the police.

If DU and JNU can have a union, why can’t we?” Jamia’s student politics is usually divided. On one side are the NSUI and the MSF. On the other is the Fraternity Movement, backed by a coalition of groups that includes the SFI, AISA and SIO.

“Both have taken out protests and kept some democratic space alive on campus,” said a PhD student who did not want to be named. “We belong to different groups and ideologies,” said Jawad, a law student. “But before sitting down for this protest, we decided to rise above party and ideology to push the issues of students.

Only a legitimate student body can understand the issues of students.” Students said the recent protest at Aligarh Muslim University, which led to a union there after eight years, was the turning point. “We have been inspired a lot by the AMU protest and its success,” Jawad said.

“For almost 20 years, Jamia has not had a students’ union. What happened at AMU gave us the confidence to push for this demand too.” On October 11, Jasim Khan walked into the canteen and announced that he was starting an indefinite hunger strike.

Haneena, a law student and one of the main organisers, said a union would change who gets heard. “JNU has a students’ union, and so does DU. If Jamia gets one, it will be a different voice,” she said. “It will raise the concerns of students from the minority community and from backward communities, who are otherwise marginalised.” The grievances, students said, run well beyond the union.

Poor hostel food set off a recent protest. This year’s hostel allocation list came out in October, though admissions were completed in June. Students also allege irregularities in admissions. They described a protest last year over an election they alleged was rigged, and another on December 15.

Outside the Express canteen, Lubaib Basheer, a fifth-year PhD student of anthropology, sat on a red concrete railing, sipping tea. He is not on hunger strike, but he was part of the delegation that met the Vice Chancellor.

“They first told us the union demand could not be met because there is no constitution,” he said. “But a union is not a favour from the administration. It is their legal obligation.” The administration then said a committee would decide by December 20, he said.