Jaipur: Rajasthan University student Shubham Rewar ended his 15-day indefinite hunger strike Wednesday after senior Congress members and the district administration assured him that steps would be taken to establish a Department of Rajasthani Language at the university and consider his demand for restoring student union elections.State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra and Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully, along with senior party members, met Rewar at Sawai Man Singh Hospital and persuaded him to end the fast by offering him juice. Earlier in the day, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot visited the student leader and urged him to drink water.Rewar had been on an indefinite fast demanding the reinstatement of student union elections in Rajasthan and the creation of a regular Department of Rajasthani Language at Rajasthan University.While agreeing to end the fast, Rewar said his campaign for student union elections and other student issues would continue.“It is beyond comprehension why the govt is not conducting elections. During our tenure, elections were postponed only because the Model Code of Conduct was about to come into force, and we had announced they would be held once it was lifted,” Gehlot said.“It makes no sense to halt elections and ignore the rising new generation. Now that Gen Z has arrived, do they not understand its power?” he added.Later in the evening, Jaipur district collector Sandesh Nayak met Rewar at the hospital and informed him that the administration had accepted his demand to open a Department of Rajasthani Language at the university. On student union elections, Nayak assured him that the matter would be taken up with the state govt.Rewar later said he was satisfied with the administration’s assurance on the language department, calling it “the first major victory for the state’s mother tongue and the student community’s struggle.”
