Tension prevailed in and around the University of Hyderabad as students remembered the Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula on Tuesday on his first death anniversary and held protests. However, the security personnel prevented the media and the journalists from entering the campus citing the High Court orders that no outsider should be allowed into the University premises.
Rohith Stupa and Velivada, the epicenter of the protest inside the campus was the focal point where the students associated with the Ambedkar Students Association and the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice striving for justice with Rohith Vemula gathered and garlanded the statue of Rohith.
The students also put a large number of color portraits of Rohith at the point of protest as well as in the galleries of all the hostels and other places in the campus. The activists also gave cultural performances including folk songs on the issue of caste discrimination and hailing the sacrifice of Rohith Vemula as an inspiration for all other suppressed.
Apart form the members of Rohith’s famiy, his mother Radhika and brother Raja, the organisers had also invited the victims of atrocities and oppression at other places in India including the family of Najeeb, the missing student of JNU, New Delhi and Jan Mohammed, brother of Mohammed Akhlaq who was lynched by a mob in Dadri over the allegation of possessing cow meat at his home.
Rahul, a Dalit student suspended form JNU also took part in the remembrance program of Rohith Vemula.
Rohith Vemula was found hanging in a hostel room in the wee hours of January 17 last year after the university authorities had refused to withdraw his and four other students’ suspension from the university hostel following a clash between the Ambedkar Students Associaiton and the Akhila Bharatiya Vidhyarthy Parishad, the student wing of the BJP.
Several groups of protestors including different parties and organizations including Aam Admi Party and the Students Islamic Organization came to the University in procession but they were not allowed inside the campus.
The protestors carried different placard demanding action against the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile and others holding them responsible for Rohith’s suicide.
AAP workers stage a sit in at the main gate and shouted slogans like “We want Justice” and “Rohith Vemula Amar Rahe”.
Meanwhile Cyberabad police detained correspondent of “Frontline” magazine Kunal Shankar who had come to the Hyderabad University campus to cover the protest program.
Kunal was taken to Gachi Bowli police station for question on a complaint from the Chief Security official of the university after he had entered the campus this morning.
He was later let off by the police. Police officials said that he was not arrested formally.
In his suicide note Rohith had not named anybody as responsible for his suicide but the other students and Dalit activists alleged that he had faced a social boycott and constant harassment at the hands of the university authorities.
University authorities had ordered a security clamdown on the camps in view of the “Chalo Hyderabad University” call given by the JAC and various other organizations and rights groups.
“We have not received any application seeking permission for the program”, said Vipin Srivastava, the pro Vice Chancellor of the University. “So there was no question for denying the permission. If they apply we will take a decision on it”, he said.
He said that the university will try to deal with the situation with the help of its own security but if the situation demands police help will be sought.
A circular issued by the Registrar P S Singh warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those violating the restrictions. “The University can not be used as a platform for outsiders to participate in the activities called by insiders our outsiders when there was no permission”, he said in the circular.
The restrictions imposed by the officials evoked a sharp reaction from the students who said they will go ahead with their protests as planned. Dontha Prasant, one of the leading figures of the agitation charged the authorities with favoritism and discrimination. “When (VC) Appa Rao’s son comes inside the campus and use the facilities nobody asks him whether he has permission. No permission is required for the ABVP’s programs. But when it comes to the protest programs in memory of Rohith Vemula they imposed restrictions on us and want permission”, he said.
He called Rohith’s death an “Institutional murder” and said that the struggle will continue till justice was done and culprits were punished.
Some time after the suicide, a video of the research scholar appeared on the social media. “My name is Rohith Vemula and I am Dalit”, he declared in the video.
A case under SC ST Prevention of Atrocities Act was registered against the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile and others but no action has been taken as yet.
However the police officials investigating the case said that it was still not determined whether Rohith was a Dalit as there were conflicting claims about the caste antecedents of Rohith’s mother.
Rohith Vemula’s suicide had caused a turmoil and massive agitation on the campus which continued for several months. However normalcy returned after the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao facing the allegations of abetting the suicide went on a long leave. But his return even before the completion of investigation sparked off fresh round of trouble.
Recently the passions were inflamed when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi honored Appa Rao with an award in the Indian Science Congress at Tirupati. The agitating students strongly condemned it demanding to know how the Prime Minister can honor such a person.