Ever since 26-year-old research scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide in the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on January 17, the campus has not been the same. From protests since then to the arrest of 27 persons, including two professors, last week, the institute has now grabbed the nation’s attention.
So what does it all mean? “I personally feel that UoH is where the anti-caste struggle is happening, that it is the fulcrum of it, against the alignment of the casteist and communal forces,” said activist Teesta Setalvad. Talking to this reporter on the sidelines of an event she was attending in Hyderabad here on Thursday evening, she said UoH Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao should resign from his position.
“I cannot understand why he could not respond to Rohith for one whole month after the student had written a letter to him. If he does not even feel the need to communicate with students, then he should not be the Vice-Chancellor,” said Teesta. She also felt that the arrest of students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi was done to divert attention from the anti-caste struggle in UoH.
Rohith’s sucide, said Teesta, had galvanised the entire country to fight against casteism, which could be seen through protests taking place in different cities. “In Mumbai, which is largely an apolitical city, there was a massive march on February 1,” she recalled, and blamed the Centre for being ‘callous’ in dealing with the issue.
“There is no way the Central government can turn away from this. It all started with the whole ‘anti-national’ name calling,” Teesta said. She charged that the BJP is worried about Dalits challenging the narrative of the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ of the RSS. “Anyone who does not fit into that narrative is ‘anti-national’. The present government is trying to appropriate Dr. Ambedkar, but without his radical ideas about Hinduism,” she added.
“They don’t want that part of Dr. Ambedkar’s thoughts where he rips apart the Sangh’s ideology. They want to sanitise him. The present government is also scared of the Dalits aligning themselves with the Left, which then becomes formidable,” said Teesta.
