After 18 days of determined protests and hunger strikes, students of Jamia Millia Islamia have scored a significant victory for campus democracy. On the university’s 106th Foundation Day, the administration announced concrete steps to restore the long-defunct students’ union and withdrew all disciplinary actions taken against protesters.
In a late-night order issued on October 29, the Registrar set a clear timeline: the Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU) constitution must be approved and implemented by May 15, 2027.
Elections will be held within six weeks of the start of the next academic session (expected around mid-July 2027), in accordance with Lyngdoh Committee guidelines. All show-cause notices, disciplinary proceedings, rustications, suspensions, and campus bans linked to the protest have been revoked.
Students were directed to call off their agitation and hunger strike with immediate effect. Offline classes and examinations are set to resume from November 2.
The students’ union has remained dissolved since 2006—nearly two decades without elected representation. What began as a demand for the restoration of this basic democratic right escalated into a sustained campus movement, with students facing barricaded gates, police deployment, online classes, and punitive measures.
Hunger strikers, including third-year law student Ebin Basil and others such as Rehan Khan, held firm even as the administration initially offered only vague assurances without firm deadlines.
The breakthrough came after sustained pressure and mediation. Celebrations erupted across the campus as the order was read out.
Students poured out of hostels, marched with drums and slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Long live student unity,” and lifted the hunger strikers onto their shoulders after they broke their fast.
Students said that the outcome as a triumph of collective struggle for a legitimate right that had been denied for too long.
“The administration has agreed to all our demands. This is a victory for students, a victory for Jamia, and a victory for democracy.”
— Ebin Basil, third-year law student and hunger striker (18 days)
“We won, each and every one of us. This is a victory for democracy and for students across the world. We are all elated.”
— Javadh, protest organiser
“This is the moment history will remember. Students stayed here for more than 20 days, without food, security or water. Somehow, we made it happen. The collective unity of students has prevailed.”
— Haneena, organiser
“They barricaded our gates, but they could not silence our voices. We stood together, we fought together, and we won together. Jamia will have its students’ union. Its students will have their say.”
— Lubaib Basheer, research scholar
“Generations of Jamia students, past, present and future, will remember this Foundation Day as the day students won back their union after 20 years.”
— Nousheen Farooq, student leader
The victory underscores a simple principle: students have a legitimate right to elected representation and a voice in campus affairs. For 20 years that right was denied.
Through peaceful but uncompromising protest, Jamia’s students forced the administration to recognise it. While elections will not take place until 2027, the firm timeline and the withdrawal of punitive measures mark a clear success for student democracy.
As the campus returns to offline classes, the real work of rebuilding an active, independent students’ union begins. The students who held the line for 18 days have already shown what determined collective action can achieve.
