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'''Rohith Chakravarti Vemula''' (30 January 1989<ref>{{cite web|last1=Saubhadra|first1=Chatterji|title=Official certificate scotches doubts over Rohith’s Dalit identity|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/official-certificate-scotches-doubts-over-rohith-vemula-s-dalit-identity/story-6mppXAleTcXjSAyJfXK2VM.html|publisher=Hindustan Times|accessdate=20 January 2016|date=20 January 2016}}</ref> – 17 January 2016)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Aji|first1=Sowmya|title=Probe suggests Rohith Vemula's family not dalit: Police|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/probe-suggests-rohith-vemulas-family-not-dalit-police/articleshow/50690252.cms|website=The Economic Times|publisher=economictimes.indiatimes.com|accessdate=23 January 2016}}</ref> was an Indian [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] student at the [[Hyderabad Central University]]. His suicide on 17 January 2016 sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against [[Dalit]]s and backward classes in India in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "lower classes".<ref>{{Cite web|title = Outrage over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide - The Times of India|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Outrage-over-dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemula-suicide/liveblog/50634069.cms|website = The Times of India|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> According to his suicide note, he committed suicide in the room of one ''Umma Anna,'' in whose room he was staying after being expelled from the hostel by the authorities at the Hyderabad Central University.<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{Cite web|title = Full text: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide note - Times of India|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Full-text-Dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemulas-suicide-note/articleshow/50634646.cms|website = The Times of India|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>
'''Rohith Chakravarti Vemula''' (30 January 1989<ref>{{cite web|last1=Saubhadra|first1=Chatterji|title=Official certificate scotches doubts over Rohith’s Dalit identity|url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/official-certificate-scotches-doubts-over-rohith-vemula-s-dalit-identity/story-6mppXAleTcXjSAyJfXK2VM.html|publisher=Hindustan Times|accessdate=20 January 2016|date=20 January 2016}}</ref> – 17 January 2016)<ref>{{cite web|last1=Aji|first1=Sowmya|title=Probe suggests Rohith Vemula's family not dalit: Police|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/probe-suggests-rohith-vemulas-family-not-dalit-police/articleshow/50690252.cms|website=The Economic Times|publisher=economictimes.indiatimes.com|accessdate=23 January 2016}}</ref> was an Indian [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] student at the [[Hyderabad Central University]]. His suicide on 17 January 2016 sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against [[Dalit]]s and backward classes in India in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "lower classes".<ref>{{Cite web|title = Outrage over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide - The Times of India|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Outrage-over-dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemula-suicide/liveblog/50634069.cms|website = The Times of India|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> According to his suicide note, he committed suicide in the room of one ''Umma Anna,'' in whose room he was staying after being expelled from the hostel by the authorities at the Hyderabad Central University.<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{Cite web|title = Full text: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide note - Times of India|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Full-text-Dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemulas-suicide-note/articleshow/50634646.cms|website = The Times of India|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>
His suicide occurred after an extended controversy which spread over a few months, starting July 2015 when the University reportedly stopped paying him the fellowship of [[Indian rupee|₹]]25,000 per month and expelled him from the hostel along with five others of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). This was after the ABVP activist expressed objection to Rohith's alleged protest against the death penalty for [[Yakub Memon]], a convict in [[1993 Bombay bombings]] in which 257 people were killed.<ref name="indianexpress.com">{{Cite web|title = Behind Rohit Vemula’s suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door|url = http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/behind-dalit-student-suicide-how-his-university-campus-showed-him-the-door/|website = The Indian Express|publisher = indianexpress.com|date = 2016-01-19|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> A university official however denied the allegation of non-payment of scholarship, blaming the delay on "paperwork"<ref name="indianexpress.com"/> Rohith's suicide has been called an "institutional murder" by many including [[Bahujan Samaj Party]] leader [[Mayawati]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Govt terrorism forced Dalit scholar to commit suicide: Mayawati|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-terrorism-forced-dalit-scholar-to-commit-suicide-mayawati/|accessdate=22 January 2016|agency=The Indian Express}}</ref> Sitaram Yechury of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] ,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Sitaram Yechury dubs Rohit Vemula's suicide as 'institutional murder'|url = http://www.newswala.com/Hyderabad-News/Sitaram-Yechury-dubs-Rohit-Vemulas-suicide-as-institutional-murder-204572.html|website = newswala.com|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> Kavita Krishan of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist),<ref>{{Cite web|title = Dalit Student's Suicide: What we know about Rohith Vemula's death|url = http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dalit-student-s-suicide-all-we-know-about-rohith-vemula-s-death-2167428|website = dnaindia.com|publisher =|access-date = 2016-01-20|language = en-US}}</ref> Dalit author and activist Meena Kandasamy.<ref>{{Cite web|title = 'Vemula's Death an Institutional Murder'|url = http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Vemulas-Death-an-Institutional-Murder/2016/01/19/article3233439.ece|website = The New Indian Express|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>
His suicide occurred after an extended controversy which spread over a few months, starting July 2015 when the University reportedly stopped paying him the fellowship of [[Indian rupee|₹]]25,000 per month and expelled him from the hostel along with five others of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). This was after the [[Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad|ABVP]] activists, a youth wing of [[Bharatiya Janata Party]], expressed objection to Rohith's alleged protest against the death penalty for [[Yakub Memon]], a convict in [[1993 Bombay bombings]] in which 257 people were killed and also his condemn of the ABVP attack on the screening of the documentary ‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai’ in [[Delhi University]].<ref name="indianexpress.com">{{Cite web|title = Behind Rohit Vemula’s suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door|url = http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/behind-dalit-student-suicide-how-his-university-campus-showed-him-the-door/|website = The Indian Express|publisher = indianexpress.com|date = 2016-01-19|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> A university official however denied the allegation of non-payment of scholarship, blaming the delay on "paperwork"<ref name="indianexpress.com"/> Rohith's suicide has been called an "institutional murder" by many including [[Bahujan Samaj Party]] leader [[Mayawati]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Govt terrorism forced Dalit scholar to commit suicide: Mayawati|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/govt-terrorism-forced-dalit-scholar-to-commit-suicide-mayawati/|accessdate=22 January 2016|agency=The Indian Express}}</ref> Sitaram Yechury of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] ,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Sitaram Yechury dubs Rohit Vemula's suicide as 'institutional murder'|url = http://www.newswala.com/Hyderabad-News/Sitaram-Yechury-dubs-Rohit-Vemulas-suicide-as-institutional-murder-204572.html|website = newswala.com|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> Kavita Krishan of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist),<ref>{{Cite web|title = Dalit Student's Suicide: What we know about Rohith Vemula's death|url = http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dalit-student-s-suicide-all-we-know-about-rohith-vemula-s-death-2167428|website = dnaindia.com|publisher =|access-date = 2016-01-20|language = en-US}}</ref> Dalit author and activist Meena Kandasamy.<ref>{{Cite web|title = 'Vemula's Death an Institutional Murder'|url = http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Vemulas-Death-an-Institutional-Murder/2016/01/19/article3233439.ece|website = The New Indian Express|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>


==Background and Death==
==Background and Death==

Revision as of 20:06, 24 January 2016

Rohith Vemula
Born
Rohith Chakravarthi Vemula

(1989-01-30)30 January 1989
India
Died17 January 2016(2016-01-17) (aged 26)
Hyderabad, India
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
NationalityIndia

Rohith Chakravarti Vemula (30 January 1989[1] – 17 January 2016)[2] was an Indian PhD student at the Hyderabad Central University. His suicide on 17 January 2016 sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits and backward classes in India in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "lower classes".[3] According to his suicide note, he committed suicide in the room of one Umma Anna, in whose room he was staying after being expelled from the hostel by the authorities at the Hyderabad Central University.[4] His suicide occurred after an extended controversy which spread over a few months, starting July 2015 when the University reportedly stopped paying him the fellowship of ₹25,000 per month and expelled him from the hostel along with five others of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). This was after the ABVP activists, a youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party, expressed objection to Rohith's alleged protest against the death penalty for Yakub Memon, a convict in 1993 Bombay bombings in which 257 people were killed and also his condemn of the ABVP attack on the screening of the documentary ‘Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai’ in Delhi University.[5] A university official however denied the allegation of non-payment of scholarship, blaming the delay on "paperwork"[5] Rohith's suicide has been called an "institutional murder" by many including Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati,[6] Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist) ,[7] Kavita Krishan of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist),[8] Dalit author and activist Meena Kandasamy.[9]

Background and Death

The Indian Express notes the timeline of events which led to his suicide in the following fashion:

On August 5, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. On August 17, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the "Hyderabad University… has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics". After a series of flip-flops, the five were suspended in September. On December 17, the decision was upheld. On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a "relay hunger protest".[5]

In his suicide note, Vemula wrote: "The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of stardust. In very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.

I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense.May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That's pathetic. And that's why I am doing this."[4]

A police case was lodged in context to his suicide and included the name of Bandaru Dattatreya, Bharatiya Janata Party's MP from Secunderabad and Indian government's Minister of Labour and Employment.[10][11]

Many writers and researchers have alleged that the death of Vemula is just a continuation of the long history of discrimination against Dalits which continues till today, even in institutions of higher learning.[12]

Rohith Vemula belonged to Dalit (Scheduled Castes) community and was meritorious student.[13] Confusion arose when one of Rohit's uncle gave a statement to the police that Rohit's father was from Vaddera caste which is Backward and non schedule caste in Andhra Pradesh.Police officials, however, were not able to provide the name of the uncle. To compound the confusion, Vemula's mother asserted that she belonged to the scheduled castes. "She was distraught, there was no way that we could ask for documents to prove that she was indeed a SC," the cop said.[14][15]

The poet Ashok Vajpeyi returned his D.Litt degree awarded to him by the Hyderabad Central University in protest against the circumstances which led to the death of Vemula for which Vajpeyi holds the University culpable.[16]

References

  1. ^ Saubhadra, Chatterji (20 January 2016). "Official certificate scotches doubts over Rohith's Dalit identity". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  2. ^ Aji, Sowmya. "Probe suggests Rohith Vemula's family not dalit: Police". The Economic Times. economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Outrage over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  4. ^ a b "Full text: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide note - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  5. ^ a b c "Behind Rohit Vemula's suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door". The Indian Express. indianexpress.com. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  6. ^ "Govt terrorism forced Dalit scholar to commit suicide: Mayawati". The Indian Express. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Sitaram Yechury dubs Rohit Vemula's suicide as 'institutional murder'". newswala.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  8. ^ "Dalit Student's Suicide: What we know about Rohith Vemula's death". dnaindia.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  9. ^ "'Vemula's Death an Institutional Murder'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  10. ^ "Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral". Deccan Chronicle. Jan 20, 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  11. ^ Ghosh, Deepshikha (19 January 2016). "Huge Student Protests Against Rohith Vemula's Death: 10 Developments". Hyderabad: NDTV. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  12. ^ Ramanathan, S. "Rohith Vemula wasn't alone, it is not easy being a Dalit science scholar in Indian universities". The News Minute. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
  13. ^ "AP officials verify Rohith's caste". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  14. ^ "Merit, and not SC status, got Rohith Vemula into University of Hyderabad". timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  15. ^ "Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral". Deccan Chronicle. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  16. ^ "Rohith Vemula suicide: Poet Ashok Vajpeyi returns his D Litt degree awarded by Hyderabad University : India, News - India Today". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
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