Crocodile tears won’t return Vemula: Congress tells Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday broke his silence on the suicide of a dalit scholar in Hyderabad University and expressed grief saying he felt the pain but faced slogans from a handful of students at a convocation ceremony here.

Students are protesting Rohith’s suicide, demaning a probe into it. HRD Minister Smriti Irani said it was not a Dalit vs non-Dalit battle.

“The University of Hyderabad has announced an ex-gratia of Rs eight lakh to the bereaved family of Rohith Vemula Chakravarti”, HCU said on its website.

Modi’s speech was disrupted by some students to raised slogans against him at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.

“This is not a Dalit versus non- Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passion”, Irani told a press conference, while rejecting allegations that her Ministry had put pressure on the University to suspend Vemula.

Asked if there is any possibility of talks between the university authorities and the protesting students, Zuhail said it will be discussed by the students joint action committee, if an offer comes. There will be reasons, and there will be politics [surrounding it], but the fact remains that a mother has lost her son.

The comments came on a day when an affidavit filed in the Hyderabad High Court in October a year ago by the police emerged, contesting the claim of an ABVP student leader Susheel Kumar that Rohith Vemula and his companions had attacked him in August leading to serious injuries and hospitalisation.

Among the anguished allies include Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan – a senior Dalit leader from Bihar – and his cabinet colleague Upendra Kushwaha, a Kurmi leader and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party member from the same state.

Students taking out a protest rally against alleged institutional murder of Rohith Vemula in Guwahati on Friday.

“But we want to take this country in a direction where there is new enthusiasm and self confidence”.

After the alleged suicide of Rohith, the issue sparked strong reactions on the campus.

Around noon, one of the fasting research scholars, identified only as Ms Vaikhari, was shifted to the health centre after her blood pressure and pulse rate dropped drastically, according to a university health bulletin. They demanded stern action against both the ministers. Rohith committed suicide in his hostel room on Sunday. She said her ministry initiated similar follow up in 2014 after a Congress MP, Hanumantha Rao, asked for information about the alarming number of suicides on campus (nine in 10 years, according to some reports).