The Mulnivasi Student and Youth Front, Odisha, took out a rally and staged a demonstration here on Wednesday demanding justice to the University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide over alleged caste discrimination and arrest of university Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao and Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
The youths led by youth front State coordinator Anil Mallick took out the rally from the Railway Station Square to the PMG Square, where they held a protest meeting. later, a four-member team of the body met Governor SC Jamir at the Raj Bhawan here and submitted a five-point charter of demands to him addressing it to President Pranab Mukherjee.
Youth Front vice-president Bijay Kumar Bhoi and other speakers called upon the student community to be aware of the wicked attitude of the ABVP towards the Dalit Adivasi as it is alleged that the university had imposed restrictions on five Dalit scholars under political pressure from leaders of the BJP and its affiliated organisation AVBP.
Similarly, the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), Cuttack District Committee held a protest meeting in Cuttack on Wednesday accusing the Union Government of being responsible for Vemula’s suicide.
The body alleged that political interference by the Union Government forced the Dalit student to kill self. The AIDSO demanded unpaid stipend of Vemula and adequate compensation to his family members, resignation of the varsity’s Vice-Chancellor and Union Ministers Dattatreya and Smriti Irani and an impartial probe into the suicide incident.
AIDSO committee treasurer Binod Sethy, board of secretaries member Tarun Sen Nayak and Ravenshaw student union vice-president Pratyutparna Nayak led the protest meet.