Jamia 18-day protest: Meet the women who organised, mobilised, went on hunger strike

On October 27, Nausheen Farooq, a second-year MA student in Disaster Management from Port Blair, addressed the media near the central canteen of Jamia Millia Islamia. She and Haneena Bint Omar, a third-year law student from Thrissur, were among the many students who helped organise and sustain an 18-day protest, demanding the restoration of the university's long-defunct students' union.

Another student, Rida Naushad Khan, went on an eight-day hunger strike, breaking it to return to Lucknow when her mother fell ill. Nausheen and Haneena, who had no prior leadership experience, joined the protest to address issues such as alleged saffronisation, poor hygiene, and the 10 pm entry deadline for women students. Rida, an alumna of Aligarh Muslim University, drew inspiration from various student movements and prominent figures like Fatima Sheikh and Rosa Parks.

She emphasized the transformative power of women's participation in protests and the importance of a students' union in empowering marginalised voices, especially women and minorities.