Forced labour for ‘grandmother’: Inequality defined Rohith Vemula’s life

The backstory of Rohith Vemula’s life starts in the town of Guntur in the summer of 1971, 18 years before he was born.

The backstory of Rohith Vemula’s life starts in the town of Guntur in the summer of 1971, 18 years before he was born.

Members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) light candles at a protest in Guwahati over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad. (PTI Photo)

That was the year Anjani Devi – Rohith’s adoptive “grandmother” – triggered the events that the scholar would later describe cryptically as the “fatal accident of my birth” in his suicide note.

To delve deeper into the Dalit scholar’s life and tragic suicide, read HT’s in-depth report: Rohit Vemula -- An unfinished portrait.