Rehan Khan, a master’s student of social work, sat on the floor of the Political Science building on Saturday, pale and tired, in a dark green T-shirt and grey trousers. It was his twelfth day without food.

“Our breaking point was oppression,” he said. “For something as basic as fixing a water cooler, we went to the administration and were neglected, reprimanded, denied. So I decided to sit on a hunger strike and demand fair representation for students.”

Downstairs and across the compound of Jamia Millia Islamia University , the demand was written on the walls. Fresh graffiti showed green and red hands raised together above the words “JMISU Revival.” Another wall read “Inquilab,” or revolution.

By Saturday afternoon, nearly 500 students stood in small clusters around Gulistan-e-Ghalib and the Express canteen beside the political science department. They shouted slogans, made plans and sipped tea.…