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Protest, tribute mark Rohith Vemula death anniversary
NSUI, Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and AISA take out solidarity march and hold a public meeting; ’ABVP activists ‘ try to scuttle the event by raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’
LUCKNOW The Lucknow University campus reverberated with slogans of ‘Rohith Vemula amar rahe’ on Tuesday as student organisations NSUI, Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and AISA took out a solidarity march and held a public meeting to mark the seventh death anniversary of Rohith Vemula while activists allegedly from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) tried to scuttle the event by raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
The suicide of 26-year-old PhD student Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad in January 2016 had triggered a wave of nationwide protests against caste discrimination. His death put the spotlight on student politics, campus unrest and atrocities against Dalits, making the 26-year-old student-activist the rallying point of protests, discourses and debates over societal prejudices against people of lower castes.
NSUI, SPS and AISA claimed that an academic discussion on the topic, ‘Social discrimination, violence and political witch-hunt in educational institutions’ was cancelled by the LU authorities on the ground that no permission was sought for the event. Students had invited Prof Ravikant Chandan of Hindi department to speak on the topic.
As the programme started, NSUI and another group of students stated to be ABVP activists came face to face and engaged in sloganeering/protests. LU officials called the police to control the situation. However, ABVP leader Ghansyam denied allegations of activists opposing the NSUI event.
LU proctor Rakesh Dwivedi said, “NSUI and AISA were not given permission for the event. They insisted that they want to garland Dr Ambedkar’s statue on the campus. In the presence of police, the student group was allowed to garland the statue while another group opposed it. The convocation week is on and such programmes cannot be held without permission.”
“LU registrar Sanjay Medhavi denied permission for the programme without citing any reason. Proctor Rakesh Dwivedi issued a show-cause notice to two AISA members for distributing misleading pamphlets,” said Prince Prakash, city president of NSUI.
He added, “The pamphlet talked about Rohith Vemula and the role of HCU administration, which raises critical questions on the administration and central government’s approach towards marginalised students. The pamphlets also talked about the condition of scholarships in UP, a major issue among students.”
Comrade Anjali, LU convenor from AISA (All India Students’ Association) said: “The blatant casteisim and discrimination against marginalised students still perpetuates on campuses. The recent scrapping of MANF fellowship and pre matric SC/ST scholarship can be seen in this light.”
NSUI’s Vishal Singh said, “We are remembering Rohith Vemula to fight injustice and inequality that is still present in the society.”
“In the past two years, the government has made education a private commodity, which can be given to only those who have strong financial stability. Education is a right for all. This is a systematic attempt to discriminate against marginalised students,” said Amit Yadav, a student leader from SCS.
The students also demanded the implementation of Rohith Act, which provides a legislative measure for marginalised students. They said that the only way to remember Rohith Vemula is to keep alive the struggle against fee hike, NEP 2020 and fellowship cut in educational institutions.
