New Delhi: Five Delhi University students affiliated with the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) ended their hunger strike on Thursday after the university administration gave a written assurance on several of their demands, including student representation in the Academic Council and expansion of one-year postgraduate courses.
The student leaders added that the university administration had assured them it would respond to the social media post made from the official university account during the recent Jantar Mantar protest, urging students to refrain from joining the movement.
"The Delhi University administration has fulfilled all our demands in writing and has also given a verbal assurance, on camera and in the presence of the students, to provide a prompt response regarding the specific 'X' (formerly Twitter) post in question," DUSU Vice President Rahul Jhansla said.
The students, who had been on an indefinite hunger strike for nine days as part of the ongoing "DU Satyagraha" protest, called off their fast after receiving a letter signed by the university's Proctor and handed to them by the DU South Campus director Rajni Abbi.
According to the letter dated August 4, the process for student representation in the Academic Council will be completed within three months of the conclusion of the 2026 Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections.
The university also assured that seats in one-year postgraduate programmes have been increased in line with the students' demands.
"The seat allocation, earlier 1,100 for PG courses, has been increased to more than double. One-year PG courses in five programmes have also been started in the School of Open Learning (SOL) from the academic session 2026-27," the letter said.
It added that the remaining demands raised by the students would be discussed with the university administration in due course.
The hunger strike was called off in the presence of South Campus Director Abbi, Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav and NSUI National President Vinod Jakhar, who offered water and juice to the protesters.
Addressing the protesters, Jakhar described the development as "a victory of the courage, determination and unity of Delhi University students."
"It is unfortunate that students had to put their health at risk and sit on a hunger strike before the university administration acted on their concerns. We have asked our colleagues to end their hunger strike following the written assurance, but our struggle will not end with an assurance letter. The university will have to fulfil every commitment it has made," he said.
DUSU Vice President Rahul Jhansla, who has been leading the broader DU Satyagraha campaign, said the administration had accepted the students' demands in writing and had also given an on-camera verbal assurance regarding another issue raised by the protesters.
He said the agitation had demonstrated the strength of collective student action and vowed to continue raising issues concerning students and "institutional freedom and liberty of choice."
In a statement, NSUI mentioned that they will continue to closely monitor the implementation of the assurances of the university and will stand with the students until all the accepted demands are fulfilled.
This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.