Skip to main content

Rohith's "systemic murder": Present vice-chancellor, Hyderabad University, expelled 10 Dalit students in 2002

Protest in Hyderabad against Rohith's "suicide"
By Our Representative
India’s top apex body of tens of people’s organizations, National Alliance for People’s Movements (NAPM), has termed the recent suicide of Rohith Vemula, an upcoming Dalit scholar of the University of Hyderdabad, a “systemic murder”, seeking “urgent intervention” from the judiciary and the President of India.
Pointing out that it is the reflection of the casteist and fascist agenda in India’s educational institutes, the NAPM has alleged, “governments, university heads, and the exclusionary casteist groups flourishing under the protection of political groups and affiliations have butchered another scholar, Rohith Vemula”.
It added, “This has once again brought to fore the stark reality of the caste discrimination which continue to flourish in our society, the institutes of higher learning, government offices, media and many other public institutions.”
NAPM said, “We are outraged at the silence, which prevails in the corridors of power. We are outraged and angered at the systematic denial and death of our own. We are outraged at the constant denial that caste discrimination doesn’t exist in modern India. It exists.”
“The government in power has claimed that the death of Vemula has got nothing to do with caste. This is completely false. His death is an example of the institutional and systemic bias. There is a close nexus between the Ministery of Human Resources Development (MHRD) and Hindu fundamentalist groups like Akhil Bharatiya Parishad (ABVP)”, NAPM said.
Pointing out that this is clear in “the letters which ministry wrote to the vice chancellor”, NAPM said, Smriti Irani, the MHRD minister, “cannot shrug off responsibility. Propriety demands that she steps down until an impartial enquiry is carried out.”
“There have been many such incidents in Hyderabad University in past as well. In 2002, 10 students were rusticated from the same college and later it was found that all the students belonged to scheduled caste (SC), and it was done by the present serving VC of the University of Hyderabad”, NAPM revealed.
Demanding justice for Vemula, his friends who were expelled and many others “who continue to face the scourge of institutional discrimination across the country on a daily basis”, NAPM said, “Casteism is an age-old vice. Prompt and exemplary actions on perpetuators of caste violence and a movement to remove it from all walks of our life is required.”
Insisting that “actions have to begin at the top”, and in this particular case, “central ministers, university authorities, students’ unions are involved”, the statement said, adding, “The fact remains that irrespective of the political party in power, these instances continue to happen with impunity.”
“The incidents of suicide by SC/ST students have often taken place in prestigious institutions like Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Management, All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, and so on. It is often blamed on the lack of merit and inability to cope with the higher requirements of merit”, the NAPM said.
“Often” the statement said, the blame is put on “the existing system of reservations for the backward and SC/ST communities. Our collective failure to punish the perpetrators of this violence only encourages others to continue to follow the same.”

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Invincible, Modi 'taller' than BJP, RSS: An opportunity for Congress beyond 2024?

By NS Venkataraman*  With the announcement of poll schedule for the 2024 parliamentary election, there is palpable excitement and expectation amongst the countrymen  about the shape of things to happen in India after the  results of the election would be announced. There is also speculation abroad about the future course of developments in India.