New Delhi: Two weeks of protests and a hunger strike moved Jamia Millia Islamia on Monday. The university agreed to hold students' union elections — for the first time since the elected body was dissolved in 2006.
The order from Vice-Chancellor Mazhar Asif's office says the election "will be held after 15 days, from the date of approval of the constitution of the students' union". It does not set a date by which that constitution must be approved, which leaves the poll without a fixed date.
The university also rolled back its disciplinary action. Suspension and show-cause notices issued to students during the protest have been revoked, and a committee will be set up to inquire into the conduct of security personnel during the agitation.
Those concessions come with conditions. The students have undertaken to hold a press conference and publicly apologise for any defamatory statements, actions or social media posts made against the administration, and to take down all such posts with immediate effect. The order also directs that the protest be called off as soon as it is issued.
The agitation began on October 12, with five students on an indefinite hunger strike. In an email to the Vice-Chancellor, the protesters said the fast would be called off only on a written assurance that their demands had been accepted. The core demand is the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia Students' Union with a fixed election date and schedule.
The last union election was held in 2005. The university dissolved the elected body on March 31, 2006, citing campus violence and disruption to academic work. For two decades it has relied on departmental subject associations instead, which students argue cannot speak for a university-wide body on hostels, fees and welfare.
Sunday was tense. Classes had been shifted online on Saturday, gates and libraries were shut, and personnel from Delhi Police, the CRPF, the CISF and the ITBP were deployed inside and outside the campus. A senior police officer said about 150 to 200 personnel were posted outside and three people who were not students were detained. More than 500 students gathered in support of the stir.
Delhi Police have registered an FIR over the chaos on Friday. After the university complained, Congress Lok Sabha MP Imran Masood, Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi and others were named in it, accused of trespassing and inciting unrest. Registrar Md Mahtab Alam Rizvi alleged that Masood climbed a wall to enter the campus and Pratapgarhi broke a lock. Samajwadi Party MP Mohibbullah Nadvi was detained while travelling to meet the students and later released.
The administration says it has held four rounds of talks with the protesters, and notified a constitution draft committee on October 21. Officials have argued that the sequence has to be followed — constitution first, then the electoral roll, then the date — and that after a 20-year gap, with Lyngdoh Committee recommendations and UGC regulations in place, it cannot be done in haste.
Students have pointed to Aligarh Muslim University, which announced elections for November 5 after a 19-day hunger strike, and are demanding polls by November 30.