Rohith Vemula’s mother set to campaign against BJP in UP

NAGPUR: Radhika Vemula, the mother of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide at University of Hyderabad, has decided to campaign against Bharatiya Janata

NAGPUR: Radhika Vemula, the mother of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide at University of Hyderabad, has decided to campaign against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the ensuing Uttar Pradesh elections.

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Radhika, who was here to attend the 60th Deekshabhoomi ceremony on Tuesday, said she would expose the “casteist politics” of the BJP government in the elections in Uttar Pradesh and ensure the victory of the Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati.

She and her son Naga Chairtanya Vemula had embraced Buddhism on the occasion of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s 125th birth anniversary in Mumbai in April.

On the Roopanwal committee report that probed the Rohith suicide case, she alleged that the report was prepared on the instruction of BJP leaders.

She demanded that the concerned authorities should take action against union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, the then union HRD minister Smriti Irani and university vice-chancellor P Appa Rao for the suicide of her son.

The one-man judicial commission of Justice AK Roopanwal, set up by the HRD ministry, has accused Vemula’s mother of faking his Dalit status to avail benefits and said Rohith committed suicide owing to “personal frustrations”.