HCU suicide: Rohith protest goes abroad

Hyderabad: The cry seeking justice for Rohith Vemula, the UoH scholar who committed suicide on January 17, is reverberating across universities in the US, Britain, South Africa and even Hungary.

Condolence meetings held in several universities in Boston, San Francisco and Pennsylvania in the US and Johannesburg in South Africa, with students holding placards with the posters of Rohith and Dr B.R. Ambedkar. Candlelight vigils are to be held in London on January 25.

Ignoring the record snowfall, Dalit activists participated in the protest demanding justice for Rohith in US universities. Ambedkar International Centre of the United States said Rohith’s death was a sad day for the Dalit movement and claimed that potential talent and leaders were being targeted by people of the high caste in India.

“We in the AIC are trying to mobilise our people in America to make a significant force so that we can deal with such situations with an iron hand,” said an AIC statement.

Ms Diksha Dhar, a Fulbright research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, said a condolence meeting was held in solidarity with the UoH students.

“Prof. Ramanarayan Rawat, Dalit studies scholar, headed a discussion followed by a screening of Death of Merit. The students lit candles for Rohith Vemula and put up posters on the Library board,” she said in a comment on her FB page.

“Down Down Brahminism! Resist Saffronisation! We will not let the minority voices suffocate under the Saffron State! Jai Bheem!” were the slogans raised.

At the UoH itself, graffiti appeared on the campus protesting Rohith’s suicide and depicting V-C prof. Appa Rao Podile as a monster.