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On August 5, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. On August 17, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the “Hyderabad University… has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics”. After a series of flip-flops, the five were suspended in September. On December 17, the decision was upheld. On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a “relay hunger protest”<ref>{{Cite web|title = Behind Rohit Vemula’s suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door|url = http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/behind-dalit-student-suicide-how-his-university-campus-showed-him-the-door/|website = The Indian Express|publisher = https://plus.google.com/+indianexpress|date = 2016-01-19|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>. | On August 5, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. On August 17, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the “Hyderabad University… has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics”. After a series of flip-flops, the five were suspended in September. On December 17, the decision was upheld. On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a “relay hunger protest”<ref>{{Cite web|title = Behind Rohit Vemula’s suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door|url = http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/behind-dalit-student-suicide-how-his-university-campus-showed-him-the-door/|website = The Indian Express|publisher = https://plus.google.com/+indianexpress|date = 2016-01-19|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref>. | ||
In his suicide note, Vemula wrote: "Good Morning,I would not be around when you read this letter. Don’t get angry on me. I know some of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt. 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 star dust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this. People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not bothered about what I am called. I don’t believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And know about the other worlds. If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that. Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive. “From shadows to the stars.” Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing. To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all the very best for the future. For one last time, Jai Bheem I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself. No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dalit-student-suicide-full-text-of-suicide-letter-hyderabad/#sthash.AcAYmddW.dpuf | |||
In his suicide note, Vemula wrote: "''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 very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.'' | |||
''I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense.May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That's pathetic. And that's why I am doing this."''<ref>{{Cite web|title = Full text: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide note - Times of India|url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Full-text-Dalit-scholar-Rohith-Vemulas-suicide-note/articleshow/50634646.cms|website = The Times of India|access-date = 2016-01-20}}</ref> | |||
A police case was lodged in context to his suicide and included the name of ], ]'s MP from ] and Indian government's ]. <ref>{{cite news|title=Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral|url=http://deccanchronicle.com/current-affairs/200116/caste-of-rohith-kicks-off-storm-rohith-s-tiff-with-abvp-poster-goes-viral.html|accessdate=20 January 2016|publisher=Deccan Chronicle|date=Jan 20, 2016}}</ref><ref name="NDTV">{{cite news|last1=Ghosh|first1=Deepshikha|title=Huge Student Protests Against Rohith Vemula's Death: 10 Developments|url=http://www.ndtv.com/cheat-sheet/protests-outside-ministers-home-over-hyderabad-students-suicide-10-developments-1267405|accessdate=19 January 2016|publisher=]|date=19 January 2016|location=Hyderabad}}</ref> | A police case was lodged in context to his suicide and included the name of ], ]'s MP from ] and Indian government's ]. <ref>{{cite news|title=Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral|url=http://deccanchronicle.com/current-affairs/200116/caste-of-rohith-kicks-off-storm-rohith-s-tiff-with-abvp-poster-goes-viral.html|accessdate=20 January 2016|publisher=Deccan Chronicle|date=Jan 20, 2016}}</ref><ref name="NDTV">{{cite news|last1=Ghosh|first1=Deepshikha|title=Huge Student Protests Against Rohith Vemula's Death: 10 Developments|url=http://www.ndtv.com/cheat-sheet/protests-outside-ministers-home-over-hyderabad-students-suicide-10-developments-1267405|accessdate=19 January 2016|publisher=]|date=19 January 2016|location=Hyderabad}}</ref> |
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Rohith Vemula | |
---|---|
Born | Rohith Chakravarthi Vemula (1989-01-30)30 January 1989 India |
Died | 18 January 2016(2016-01-18) (aged 26) Hyderabad, India |
Cause of death | Suicide |
Nationality | India |
Rohith Chakravarti Vemula (Telugu: రోహిత్ చక్రవర్తి వేముల)(30 January 1989 – 18 January 2016) was a PhD student at the Hyderabad Central University. His suicide sparked protests and outrage from across India and gained widespread media attention as an alleged case of discrimination against Dalits and backward classes in India in which elite educational institutions have been purportedly seen as an enduring vestige of caste-based discrimination against students belonging to "lower classes". According to his suicide note, he committed suicide in the room of one Umma Anna, in whose room he was staying after being expelled from the hostel by the authorities at the Hyderabad Central University on 18 January 2015.According to his suicide note "I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this". His suicide occurred after he along with his ASA(Ambedkar Student Association ) students protested against the hanging of terrorist Yakub Memon after the verdict given by Honarable Supreme Court of India.This led the conflicts between a ABVP student and ASA . The ASA students beaten up the ABVP student and he was hospitalised.The five students including Rohith were suspended from Hostel and Cafeteria for their activity. Rohith's suicide has been an "institutional murder" by many including Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, Kavita Krishan of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Dalit author and activist Meena Kandasamy.
Background and Death
The Indian Express notes the timeline of events which led to his suicide in the following fashion:
On August 5, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar. On August 17, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the “Hyderabad University… has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics”. After a series of flip-flops, the five were suspended in September. On December 17, the decision was upheld. On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a “relay hunger protest”.
In his suicide note, Vemula wrote: "Good Morning,I would not be around when you read this letter. Don’t get angry on me. I know some of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt. 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 star dust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this. People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not bothered about what I am called. I don’t believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And know about the other worlds. If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that. Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive. “From shadows to the stars.” Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing. To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all the very best for the future. For one last time, Jai Bheem I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself. No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/dalit-student-suicide-full-text-of-suicide-letter-hyderabad/#sthash.AcAYmddW.dpuf
A police case was lodged in context to his suicide and included the name of Bandaru Dattatreya, Baratiya Janata Party's MP from Secunderabad and Indian government's Minister of Labour and Employment.
Many writers and researchers have alleged that the death of Vemula is just a continuation of the long history of discrimination against Dalits which continues till today, even in institutions of higher learning.
Rohith Vemula belonged to Dalit (Scheduled Castes) community and was meritorious student. Confusion arose when one of Rohit's uncle gave a statement to the police that Rohit's father was from Vaddera caste.Self declared documents filed by Rohit's parents showing that they belonged to Vaddera community have also come to light.
The poet Ashok Vajpeyi returned his D.Litt degree awarded to him by the Hyderabad Central University in protest against the circumstances which led to the death of Vemula for which Vajpeyi holds the University culpable.
References
- Saubhadra, Chatterji (20 January 2016). "Official certificate scotches doubts over Rohith's Dalit identity". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- "Outrage over dalit scholar Rohith Vemula suicide - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- "Sitaram Yechury dubs Rohit Vemula's suicide as 'institutional murder'". newswala.com. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- "Dalit Student's Suicide: What we know about Rohith Vemula's death | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. https://plus.google.com/104361763535834827695. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
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- "'Vemula's Death an Institutional Murder'". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- "Behind Rohit Vemula's suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door". The Indian Express. https://plus.google.com/+indianexpress. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
{{cite web}}
: External link in
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- "Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral". Deccan Chronicle. Jan 20, 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- Ghosh, Deepshikha (19 January 2016). "Huge Student Protests Against Rohith Vemula's Death: 10 Developments". Hyderabad: NDTV. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
- Ramanathan, S. (Monday, January 18, 2016). "Rohith Vemula wasn't alone, it is not easy being a Dalit science scholar in Indian universities - See more at: http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/rohith-vemula-wasn%E2%80%99t-alone-it-not-easy-being-dalit-science-scholar-indian-universities-37838#sthash.yOgR6tIR.dpuf". The News Minute. Retrieved 21-01-2016.
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- Merit, and not SC status, got Rohith Vemula into University of Hyderabad http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Merit-and-not-SC-status-got-Rohith-Vemula-into-University-of-Hyderabad/articleshow/50647174.cms
- "Rohith's caste kicks off storm, his tiff with ABVP over poster goes viral". Deccan Chronicle. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- "Rohith Vemula suicide: Poet Ashok Vajpeyi returns his D Litt degree awarded by Hyderabad University : India, News - India Today". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 2016-01-20.