Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday joined the thousands of protesting students from various universities who took to the streets in the national capital demanding justice for dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and over the JNU controversy.
Mr Kejriwal warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if students would get together, they would shake up his chair in such a manner that he would not forget.
Amid loud cheers, Mr Kejriwal said the Centre was at “war with the students of the country and asked the Prime Minister to mend his ways.” Otherwise, he said, students will “teach him a lesson.”
“If Modiji does not mend ways then very soon the youth and students will come together to teach him a lesson,” he said, adding, “I had said earlier, ‘Modiji don’t mess with students. Otherwise they will rock your government and you won’t have a clue.”
The students marched from Ambedkar Bhavan in central Delhi’s Jandewalan to Jantar Mantar, the capital’s protest hotspot. The protesters, including hundreds of students from University of Hyderabad and Osmania University, raised Ambedkarite slogans, such as “Jai Bhim,” and demanded justice for Vemula, alleging that the Centre was responsible for his suicide.
Hyderabad Central University student Vijay Kumar P., who was expelled along with Vemula, said despite having UGC guidelines for a grievance redressal mechanism in every Central university, the varsity does not pay heed to their problems, especially if a dalit complains. “Vemula was constantly threatened and pressurised by right-wing party leaders for spreading knowledge about B.R. Ambedkar. We used to discuss and dissent such oppression against us. We even complained to the authorities, but were not paid any attention,” said Vijay.
When asked if there were deaths by suicide in other universities in Hyderabad, Vijay said: “Rohith’s case was a case of institutional murder. He was the 6th student in the SC/ST category to have died by committing suicide in Hyderabad. This matter needs to be taken up in Parliament and in this Budget Session, the amount allocated for the education of dalits, adivasis and other minorities should be completely used.”
Krishank, a student of Osmania University, said: “RSS, ABVP and BJP want to instil Hindutva ideology in all universities and want to curtail freedom of expression and liberties of minority category students. Shame on HRD minister Smriti Irani for killing Rohith by writing to the vice-chancellor, who being an RSS agent, expelled him and stopped his scholarship.”
Another student of University of Hyderabad, Prashant, who also organised the protest march, said the Central government should pay a compensation of '50 lakhs to Vemula’s family and the expelled students should be taken back. “Vemula was called anti-national for protesting against capital punishment, which has been abolished in many countries. But right-wing parties framed him wrongly saying he was protesting against the hanging of Yakub Memon. We want justice for him and we will fight till death for it. The university to take back the expelled students so that they can build their careers”
“Universities should be autonomous and free from political interference. There must be a democratic process for appointing the vice-chancellors and should not be done by the ministry of human resources development,” Prashant added.
Besides JNU, students from other universities of the city — Jamia Millia and Ambedkar University — also joined the march, condemning the police action in JNU while demanding immediate release of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar. Vemula’s mother Radhika and brother Raja also participated in the “Chalo Dilli” protest. Carrying the tricolour, blue and red flags, students, activists and intellectuals marched 1 km to Jantar Mantar. Slogans demanding “Rohith Act” to end caste discrimination in education sector were also raised.
