Lucknow's Dalit students suffer the same fate as Hyderabad's

Facing similar oppression as scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide at the University of Hyderabad, Dalit students of a UP university rushed to meet HRD Minister Prakash Javdekar to register their protest, writes MUDIT MATHUR

- Mudit Mathur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time broke his silence over the tragic suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula when he came to Lucknow on 21 January 2106 to attend the sixth convocation ceremony at Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar University (BBAU). A Dalit research scholar, Rohith Vemula took the extreme step following torturous treatment, allegedly, due to deep-rooted caste bias and arbitrariness of the authorities at University of Hyderabad.

Modi had to face embarrassment of Dalit students’ protest as soon as he started to address the audience, as they claimed they were facing a suffocating atmosphere, similar to that faced Rohith and his fellow students ever since the forces of Hindutva took over the reins of federal power that control finances to the central universities.

In response, the Prime Minister said, “I can feel the pain of Rohith’s mother as nation too lost a son. Whatever may have been the reasons, a mother lost her son; indeed Mother India had lost a son.” Ironically, Rohith’s mother Radhika Vemula came to Lucknow to extend her solidarity to agitating eight Dalit students of BBAU, who were arbitrarily and unlawfully expelled and thrown out of their hostels without being afforded any opportunity to defend themselves.

Dalit students have been staging a continuous dharna in front of the administrative block of BBAU campus, demanding revocation of the arbitrary rustication of their leaders and allowing them to attend their academic classes. They are agitating over a host of issues relating to growing intolerance resulting in Hyderabad-like situations as they are facing caste bias and unlawful treatment in BBAU campus.