After CJP leader’s visit, Rajasthan university evicts student on hunger strike

“The youth will have to awaken. They will have to leave their homes against this dictatorial government. Gen Z has shown we can achieve what we think. So, all of us will have to fight unitedly against this injustice and ask this government why it isn’t restoring students’ union elections,” he said.

Bhajan Lal, SHO of Gandhi Nagar police station, said, “We initially briefed him, telling him that we will have to remove him as we will have to ensure his (good) health. He was on a hunger strike for the past several days, and as his health was deteriorating, we had to shift him to a hospital.” The SHO said that Rewar is being kept under watch at the hospital.

In dramatic visuals, as Rewar was forcibly packed into an ambulance amid a thick police presence, three of his supporters managed to climb atop the ambulance in a bid to prevent them from whisking him away.

Hailing from Nagaur district, Rewar is a second-year Master of Law (LLM) student at the university. Thursday was the eighth day of his hunger strike.

“The Governor, who hails from Maharashtra, had come with a direction for teaching Marathi here in Rajasthan. But we, the students, will call off this hunger strike only after a Rajasthani language department is opened here in the university,” Rewar had told The Indian Express on Tuesday, the day he met Ranka.

‘Constant pressure’

He had said that there has been “constant pressure” on the students to call off the protest, else “we will be forcefully evicted”. On the CJP, he said that “we welcome its support as the youth will have to fight the fight unitedly”.

With the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the RSS-linked Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) both calling for the restoration of students’ union elections, Rewar said, “We are all united and without a stage. All the youth of the state are united in restoration of student union elections.”

Visiting Rewar briefly, CJP’s national spokesperson Ranka had said that the demands of protesting students are “just”.

“Students’ union election is the democratic right of students, and it is quite shameful that it hasn’t been conducted for the last few years. And if Rajasthan University won’t promote Rajasthani language, then who will,” he had said. Listing the several issues as being demanded by the students, Ranka said that they are giving a three-month ultimatum to the university to resolve the issues or they will seek the resignation of the University Vice Chancellor Prof Alpana Kateja.

Protest gains traction

Following Ranka’s visit, Rewar’s protest started gaining traction, with Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot, and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot all lending support to his protest on Wednesday evening.

Additionally, Congress MLA Mukesh Bhakar, Independent MLA Ravindra Singh Bhati, former Congress MLA Indraj Gurjar, and others also extended their support to Rewar.

On Thursday, three students affiliated with the NSUI also climbed a water tank in Jaipur seeking restoration of students’ union polls and the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah “over the brutality inflicted on students at Jantar Mantar”.