Students of the Pune-based Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Tuesday resorted to a day-long token hunger strike as a mark of protest against the suspension and social boycott of five Dalit students of University of Hyderabad (UoH) that led to the suicide of one of them.
Referring to the shocking suicide of Rohith Vermula, one of the five “socially ostracised”, the FTII Students’ Association (FSA) referred to the shocking suicide and held the “brahmanical administration” of the University, BJP MP and Union Minister of State Bandaru Dattatreya, HRD Minister Smriti Irani, ABVP president Sushil Kumar, Vice Chancellor of UoH Appa Rao Podile and chief proctor Alok Pandey who ordered the suspension of students, responsible for the murder of Rohith.
“They (the Dalit students) have been viciously targeted by the UoH administration and the right wing groups on a false complaint filed by Susheel Kumar, the president of ABVP, UoH accusing that he had been attacked by 30 students of Ambedkar Students Association,” the FSA stated.
“We recognise that this incident should be seen in the light of things happening all across the country in recent times. Minority communities are being attacked, voices of dissent are being curtailed and brahmanical ideology is being imposed on plural cultural and educational spaces. We strongly condemn the police attack on the students,” a FSA spokesperson said.
“We hold the brahmanical administration of UoH, Union Minister of State Bandaru Dattatreya HRD Minister Smriti Irani, ABVP president Sushil Kumar, Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile and chief proctor Alok Pandey who ordered the suspension, responsible for the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula,” the spokesperson, while calling for an independent probe into the incident.