HRD Ministry sent Hyderabad varsity 5 letters to act on Rohith's union

HYDERABAD: The Union ministry of human resource development wrote five letters to the University of Hyderabad administration asking it to expedite action on the letter written by Union minister of state for labour Bandaru Dattatreya last year.

Mr Dattatreya had written to the HRD minister on August 17, 2015, alleging that the university had become a den of “casteist, extremist and anti-national” politics.

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He had also referred to the “dominant students union”, the Ambedkar Students Association, holding protests against the hanging of Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon and an alleged assault on an ABVP activist.

Fresh protests erupted on the University of Hyderabad campus on Wednesday over the alleged suicide by dalit scholar Rohith Vemula. The body of Vemula was found hanging in the varsity's hostel room on Sunday, which sparked massive protests.

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Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor were named in an FIR over the alleged suicide of the dalit student.

The first MHRD email on September 3, 2015, to the university’s registrar with the subject, “Comments on VIP reference of Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, MoS for labour and employment” requested the officer to examine the issues raised by Mr Dattatreya and facts be intimated so that a reply could be sent to the MoS. The letter by Mr Dattatreya was attached with this mail.

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The second letter dated September 24, 2015, was more direct. The subject read, “Anti-national activities in HCU Premises-Violent Attack on Sri Nandanam Susheel Kumar, PhD student and president of ABVP” and said the university had not yet replied to the first letter.