IndiaTomorrow.net,
Boston, Massachusetts, Jan 28: Protest demonstrations were held at major universities and cities across the US expressing outrage at the death of 26-year-old Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad in India.
Rohith, who was suspended from the varsity hostel along with four other Dalit research scholars for allegedly beating a saffron student leader, committed suicide on Sunday (17 Jan) at a hostel room of the university in Hyderabad, the capital of newly-born Telangana state, sparking protests across the country and outside.
The protest demonstrations in the US were held outside the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at the University of Michigan.
Indian civil society groups gathered at Harvard Square, Cambridge for the second time in two weeks to demand punishment for those responsible for Rohith’s death.
Protestors called for the immediate resignation of the two union ministers – Labor Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Minister for Human Resources Smriti Irani – for their alleged role in Rohith’s death, as well as for criminal prosecution of the Vice Chancellor of Hyderabad University.
Dr. Vidya Karunakaran, a PhD from Dartmouth College who works with #DalitWomenFight expressed anguish at the loss of the promising young scholar and activist. Noting that his death was part of a larger pattern in Indian universities, she said “80% of suicides in the elite institutions in India are Dalits and Adivasis. Clearly we have a problem of casteism in our State”.
Tanoj Meshram, a PhD student in Social Policy at Brandeis University and a member of the Central Executive Committee of the All India Backward and Minorities Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) accused educational institutes in India of denying political and civil rights supposed to be guaranteed by the constitution.
Students protesting at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for Rohith Vemula
The organizers of the protest demonstrations included Boston Study Group, Ambedkar International Center, Ambedkar International Mission, Ambedkar Association of North India, Alliance for a Secular and Democratic South Asia, Association for India’s Development and Indian American Muslim Council.
In a joint statement, they said: “We mourn the loss of a talented, sensitive, and powerful young Ambedkarite and scientist and extend our deep condolences to his family, loved ones, and to the Ambedkarite student community at UoH. We condemn the open support by UoH administration of extreme right wing groups like the RSS affiliated ABVP who have been carrying out a campaign of terror to intimidate progressive forces in society by using BJP’s political networks to protect their cadre and persecute democratic opposition. The death of Rohith is a direct consequence of this right wing persecution in partnership with the casteist and corrupt university administration.”
Two more protests are planned on January 30 in Washington DC by the International Commission for Dalit Rights and in New York City by Ambedkar International Mission.
