Hyderabad: The Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, while marching forward in Bharat Jodo yatra met Rohit Vemul’s mother and expressed zeal. “By meeting Rohit’s mother, the steps towards the goal of the journey got new courage, and new strength of mind” stated the leader.
Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra led by party leader Rahul Gandhi, to reunite the nation entered Hyderabad on Tuesday with hundreds of party leaders and workers accompanying him on the walk.
The leader took to Twitter and said “Rohit Vemula, is and will remain, a symbol of my struggle against social discrimination and injustice”.
Who is Rohit Vemula?
Rohit Vemula, a 26-year-old student of the University of Hyderabad, died by suicide on January 17, 2016, as he was suspended from the university alongside four others after a complaint by the local unit of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
“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 every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living,” said Ph.D. student, Rohith Vemula, in his last words to the world before he died by suicide six years ago on this day.
Vemula was suspended by the UoH for allegedly raising “issues under the banner of the Ambedkar Students Association” (ASA).
When Velmula and the others were forced out of their hostel rooms and found it difficult to manage without a grant, they set up camp in the shopping complex of the university, to protest against the unfair decision with a hunger strike.
On 17 January, 2016, Vemula ended his life by hanging himself to death leaving behind a heart wrenching note that described his stuggles, and called his birth a fatal accident.
Rohit Vemula Act
Vemula’s death triggered a nationwide agitation against casteism in institutions of higher learning.
On the fourth death anniversary of Hyderabad Central University research scholar Rohit Vemula, his mother announced launching of the” Mothers for Nation” yatra, a campaign for social justice and protection of the basic principles of the Constitution.
Later, In a bid to end caste-based discrimination, ragging, and bias against students in universities, colleges, and schools, Congress-led United Domestic Front (UDF) in its manifesto promised to implement a ‘Rohit Vemula Act’
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