Jaipur: NSUI Workers Scale Water Tank as Rajasthan Student Poll Demand Escalates

Student unrest intensified in Jaipur as three NSUI workers climbed atop a water tank near Gandhi Nagar station following a police lathi-charge on protesters at Jantar Mantar who were demanding the restoration of student union elections in Rajasthan. The escalation unfolded alongside a continuing sit-in hunger strike at Rajasthan University, where student leader Shubham Rewar has been agitating with dozens of supporters. Citizens for Justice and Peace representative Ranka publicly backed the student movement, amplifying calls for the state government to immediately restore democratic campus elections.

🗳️ Three NSUI Workers Scale Water Tank After Police Lathi-Charge at Jantar Mantar

Three workers of the National Students' Union of India climbed atop a water tank near Gandhi Nagar railway station in Jaipur, staging a high-visibility aerial protest to demand the immediate resumption of student union elections in Rajasthan. The dramatic escalation was a direct response to a police lathi-charge on NSUI demonstrators who had gathered at Jantar Mantar in Jaipur to press the same demands through street agitation. After police used force to disperse the crowd, the three NSUI leaders chose to scale the water tank as a form of visible, sustained defiance that authorities would find difficult to simply ignore or quietly dismantle. Civil administration officials and police personnel were deployed to the site immediately and spent considerable time attempting to persuade the three protesters to descend safely, but the workers remained in position as negotiations continued. The protesters were pressing for the restoration of democratic student elections in colleges and universities across Rajasthan, a right they argued had been denied to students for years under the current state administration. The protest drew widespread media coverage and public sympathy, illustrating the depth of student frustration over what activists characterised as the deliberate suppression of campus democratic institutions and the willingness of police to use force against peaceful demonstrators in the state capital. [6]

🎓 RU Student Hunger Strike Gains Momentum as CJP Backs Poll Demand

A concurrent protest at Rajasthan University in Jaipur saw a student leader maintaining a hunger strike and sit-in demonstration outside the campus gate, demanding the immediate restoration of student union elections across Rajasthan's universities and colleges. The protester, Shubham Rewar, had established a tent outside the university campus entrance and was sustaining the demonstration with the active support of approximately four dozen fellow activists who joined his agitation in solidarity with the cause. Rewar and his supporters argued forcefully that the continued absence of student union elections in Rajasthan represents a fundamental violation of the democratic rights of students and their entitlement to organised political representation and self-governance within educational institutions. The agitation attracted notable civil society support, with Ranka, a representative of Citizens for Justice and Peace, visiting the protest site to express solidarity with the student leader and publicly endorse the demand for restored campus democratic processes. Shubham stated that blocking student union elections amounts to denying students a basic democratic right and that the state government must act without further delay to remedy the situation. The parallel protests at Rajasthan University and at the Gandhi Nagar water tank together reflected the growing momentum and broadening social base of the student movement seeking democratic elections across Rajasthan's university campuses. [9]

Sources: [6] The New Indian Express · [9] The New Indian Express