Rohith Vemula’s brother also claims discrimination

Radhika Vemula and Raja Vemula, the mother and brother of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who killed himself, were given ‘deeksha’ by Buddhist monks as part of their conversion to Buddhism. (Photo: Rajesh Jadhav)

At their ceremony to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism, Raja Vemula, brother of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide, said he had also faced discrimination and alleged Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the “real political culprits” behind his brother’s death.

“Belonging to the Dalit community even I was victim of discrimination from my professors in school who were Brahmin and their behaviour towards me was discriminative in nature,” Raja said on Thursday. “During my intermediate years, my professors used to keep my books and my bottle of water separate from the other students. Today, my mother and I by adopting Buddhism are going to start a life that Rohith always dreamed of,” he added.

“We are hopeful that Telanagana CM (Chandrashekar Rao) might join the search for the truth behind Rohith’s death. However, the real political culprits are the BJP leaders Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself,” said Raja.

Rohith Vemula made headlines when he hanged himself in his hostel room inside the campus of University of Hyderabad (UOH). The UOH had suspended Rohith and four other students after they allegedly assaulted an ABVP leader over a heated argument over the hanging of Yakub Memon in August 2015. It is said that the suspension led to depression, which eventually led Rohith to hang himself.

Rohith’s mother and brother undertook ‘deeksha ceremony’ to convert to Buddhism on Thursday, which was the 125th birth anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar. The ceremony was carried out in the presence of the grandson of Dr Ambedkar, and used 22 vows prescribed by Dr Ambedkar. Thirty Buddhist monks belonging to the Buddhist society of India came to the city from different parts of the city for carrying out the ceremony.

“My brother was extremely keen that our family should follow the path of Buddha. In November 2015, when he came home to Guntur for attending his best friend’s marriage he spoke to us a lot about why Ambedkar had chosen to convert Buddhism in 1956. However, at that time we were unable to see the value of what my brother was trying to say. But his death has opened our eyes to the reality,” said Raja.

Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution and known as a Dalit icon, converted to Buddhism in 1956 expressing his opposition to the prevalent caste system in Hinduism.