Expressing grief over the suicide by a Dalit research scholar of Hyderabad Central University, BSP chief Mayawati termed the incident as an insult of the Dalit community.
“The student was forced to commit suicide as the authorities had clearly maintained that if he was against the BJP government at the Centre, then he would be termed as a terrorist,” Mayawati pointed out. She demanded action against Union ministers, Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya charging them for forcing the student to take the extreme step. She also pressed for stringent action against the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Appa Rao. The BSP chief said that post-independence an atmosphere has been created in the country, where BJP ministers are making ‘mockery of Constitutional dignity’. She claimed that such incidents raise concern of the safety of Dalits under the present Union government. Mayawati said that such acts show that dalits, backwards and other communities who oppose the BJP will never be provided justice.
On Tuesday, Mayawati had sent a delegation headed by Rajya Sabha member, Veer Singh to meet the victim’s family in Hyderabad and submit a report on the incident.
Earlier on Sunday night, PhD scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide on the univeristy campus in Hyderabad on Sunday night. He was among five research scholars who were suspended by the varsity authorities in August, 2015. They were recently asked to vacatethe university hostel. In the FIR lodged with the Hyderabad Police on Monday, Union labour Minister, Dattatreya, Hyderabad Central University Vice-Chancellor, Appa Rao and three others have been held resposnible for the student’s death.