Rohith committed suicide in his hostel room on Sunday. Students have alleged that his suspension led to Rohith’s depression and his eventual suicide. He urged all teachers, students, officers and supporting staff to resume routine work without delay.
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Asked if there is any possibility of talks between the university authorities and the protesting students, Zuhail said it will be discussed by the students joint action committee, if an offer comes.
Dubbing the HRD minister as the “biggest culprit” in the matter, he said that the Prime Minister has “disappointed” the whole country by “not uttering a word about any disciplinary action, any legal action” against Irani and Dattatreya.
The press release further stated, “It (sub-committee of executive council) was headed by an upper caste professor Vipin Srivastava and there are no Dalit faculty member in the sub-committee”. The two SC/ST students got up from the seat and said “Narendra Modi murdabad” twice.
Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani on Friday also spoke to the mother of Rohith Vemula over phone and extended her condolences. The suspension on Seshaiah, Sunkanna, Vijay Kumar and Prasanth has been revoked with immediate effect. “A young son of my country, Rohith, was compelled to commit suicide, what his family must have gone through, I can feel the pain”, PM Modi said addressing the convocation of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.
Political parties have been demanding that Modi act against Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and university Vice-Chancellor R C Sobti looked on with surprise from the stage, as the student was joined by two others, all raising the same slogans.
“At a time when the legitimacy of Prof Appa Rao to continue as the Vice Chancellor is in question, without attending to the protesting students, who are on indefinite hunger strike, the absconding VC and Executive Committee met today (not inside the campus) and issued a circular”.
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The conspiracy angle has much to it: Murmurs that Vemula was not actually a Dalit, insistence that he was being anti-national, whataboutery over why the Congress is only now speaking up about a Dalit suicide and much more. But we can’t celebrate it because Rohith is not there. Another central minister, Bandaru Dattatreya, insisted he did not influence the university to suspend Rohith Vemula – who killed himself – and four other students.
