For 20 years, Jamia Millia Islamia has had no student union. In a central university in a democratic country, that is not a small gap. Representation is a democratic right, and a union is how students put their problems before the administration. It is also where leaders are made. Student unions are what shape and nurture leaders. Many who go on to become members of Parliament and Vidhan Sabhas, across every party, begin at a student union. If students have no space to pursue their political aspirations and dreams, how will promising leaders ever reach those houses? Without a union, nobody speaks for us, and nobody is being groomed to speak for the country tomorrow.

That is why I stopped eating.

In practice, the absence of a union means our voice is constantly suppressed. There is no real right to dissent or to expression on this campus. When students raise a concern, the administration’s instinct is to penalise them rather than listen. I know this from my own experience. A month ago, I protested against what we call admission chori: Irregularities and malpractice in sports admissions and reservation........

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