Live: There’s a Rohith in Every Institution in India: Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi joins Hyderabad University students in the hunger strike demanding action in Rohith Vemula suicide case.
- Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visits Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and addresses the students who are on strike.
- Rohith Vemula was found hanging in a hostel room in HCU on 17 January.
- HCU Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, and few more were named in an FIR related to the case.
- Appa Rao Podile went on a “personal leave,” leaving Vipin Srivastava as interim VC.
- Srivastava was on the Executive Committee which suspended Vemula.
- Srivastava went on leave hours before Rahul Gandhi reached the campus.
- M Periasamy has replaced Srivastava as interim VC.
After addressing the students Rahul Gandhi and Rohith Vemula’s mother end their hunger strike at the HCU campus.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addresses students at the Hyderabad University.
Rahul said, “There is a lot of discrimination towards students from different categories in India”. He also said that there is a Rohith Vemula in every educational institution in our country.
Rahul also said, “The prime minister must come and share his ideas with the students here and if those ideas are acceptable to the students, I am fine with it”.
He also took the opportunity to slam PM Modi saying,
Rahul added, “My main opposition to Mr Modi and the RSS is that they are trying to crush the spirit of Indian youngsters by imposing one idea from the top”. He also alleged that one day the very same people who crushed Rohith Vemula will try to block other students’ path too.
BJP’s Nalin Kohli responded to Rahul Gandhi’s speech immediately on Times Now and defended the Central government on the issue. The BJP had earlier alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Hyderabad Central University was an attempt to gain political brownie points.
The protest at the Hyderabad University continues. If Rohith Vemula were alive today, he would have turned 27 years old.
Protests Outside RSS Office in Delhi
Students in Delhi are protesting outside the office of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Another Dalit Victim’s Mother Writes to Rohith Vemula’s Mother and Friends
Mother of another Dalit victim Aniket Ambhore, an Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay who committed suicide in 2014, has written to the family and friends of Rohith Vemula, and shared her grief.
The letter was posted on a Facebook page dedicated by IIT Bombay to Rohith Vemula.
Telangana Congress Members Detained
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders who were protesting outside Hyderabad University, have been detained by the police.
Congress Says “Dalit Issues Are Lifeline of Country”
After heavy criticism from the BJP, Congress has responded by saying that the Dalits are the lifeline of the country but for the BJP, issues faced by Dalits are political issues.
The protest, meanwhile, is joined by more students from Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru universities.
New Interim VC Says we Cannot be Fighting Forever
Even as Rahul Gandhi joins the protesting students at the Hyderabad university, M Periasamy, the interim VC of Hyderabad University appointed on Friday night has said that the students raised genuine concerns, and “should not be fighting forever,” in an interview with CNN-IBN.
However, he kept the question of what measures the university will take to re-establish peace on campus, unanswered.
BJP Slams RaGa
The Bharatiya Janata Party slammed Rahul Gandhi’s second visit to the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus calling it “classic politics of vulturisation” and “cheap politics”.
Venkaiah Naidu:
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu termed Gandhi’s visit to be a part of the “anti-Modi campaign”.
Nalin Kohli:
National spokesperson of BJP, Nalin Kohli has questioned if Rahul Gandhi’s visit was intended to disturb the university atmosphere when “peace was finally returning”.
However, the protests in the university have shown no signs of decreasing momentum as the students have been protesting in innovative ways.
Krishna Saagar Rao:
Spokesperson of BJP Telangana, Krishna Saagar Rao, called it RaGa’s attempt to politicise a tragic incident in a desperate attempt to earn political brownie points.
He questioned Gandhi’s absence in Tamil Nadu where three female students from SVS medical college in Villupuram district.
Zafar Islam:
MA Naqvi:
Sambit Patra:
Nitin Gadkari:
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi joined the students protesting outside the Hyderabad University, who have been on a 18-hour-mass hunger strike, on Saturday morning. Rohith Vemula’s mother, and students of FTII Pune have also joined the hunger strike.
Saturday also happens to the birthday of Rohith Vemula, the student whose death sparked this protest.
Gandhi who arrived at the university at 12.10 am on Saturday spoke to nearly 2,000 agitating students and lit candles before Vemula’s picture.
Vemula, a Dalit PhD student, was found hanging in a hostel room of the university on 17 January.
Also read: Hyderabad Interim VC Changed Hours Before Rahul Gandhi’s Visit
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