Efforts were being made to scuttle the observation of the first death anniversary of Rohith Vemula, the research scholar who had committed suicide last year on the campus of Hyderabad Central University, alleged Vemula Radhika, mother of Rohith, here on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference, she demanded that the anniversary, which fell on January 17, be observed as Dalits’ Rights Day. She would be taking part in a meeting to be organised on the campus on Tuesday.
Sad but true, Rohit Vemula is only an instrument in the battle for supremacy between Left parties and the BJP. And this is a battle that has been going on for decades now.
Traditionally, university campuses have always been the strongholds of student unions backed by the Left parties. At JNU, it is the left parties that had been the dominant player until the ABVP started asserting itself with the BJP coming to power.
The Kanhayya Kumar episode is a brief episode in this battle as is Rohit Vemula’s issue. There was a similar tussle in the 70’s culminating in the murder of a student leader George Reddy, on the campus of Osmania University.
The character of Michael in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Yuva’ was based on George Reddy and prior to that, it was the inspiration for Bhanuchander’s character in Tammareddy Bharadwaj’s ‘Alajadi’.
But coming to the point, there is a danger of brilliant students getting caught up in these battles and choosing the wrong priorities at a very important stage of their lives. It is important for them to realize that they are mere pawns in games of political upmanship and that nothing would serve them and society better than a sound, proper education!
