Thread by @labhopping

A thread on the life of Rohith Vemula, Dalit PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, who was born this day in 1989. Follow the thread to know more about this beacon of hope for all of us who dare to imagine and hope for an anti-caste future.

Rohith was born to Radhika Vemula in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Radhika is a Dalit woman who herself faced casteist treatment from her adoptive family. Rohith's experiences of he and his mother being treated differently due to their Dalit identities informed his later politics.

Rohith was doing a PhD in #science, #technology and #society (#STS) studies. In 2015, things took a turn for the worst. The then-president of UoH's ABVP unit, N. Susheel Kumar, complained to the univ. against alleged physical assault by Rohith and 4 other Ambedkarite students.

While N. Susheel Kumar did have to go for a surgery next day for acute appendicitis, there was no evidence that he was physically assaulted or that the appendicitis was caused as a result of physical assault.

As Anupama Row, senior medical officer at UoH said, ""After collecting all the medical reports of Susheel Kumar and examining them, I could not reach the conclusion that he developed appendicitis due to the alleged assault...

...There was one line that there was a bruise on his left shoulder. I could not say if he was allegedly punched or beaten up. I did not examine him as he did not come to me and the hospital’s report does not mention that he had any external or visible injury."

Read more at: thehindu.com/news/national/…

None the less, members of the ABVP wrote to the-then minister of labour and employment, Bandaru Dattatreya, alleging the Rohith and members of the Ambedkarite Students' Association (ASA) are participating in "anti-national" activities on campus.

Events took a serious political turn when Dattatreya allegedly forwarded the letter to minister Smriti Irani. The letter was then also forwarded to UoH vice-chancellor, Appa Rao Podile. In August 2015, Rohith and his four friends were expelled from their hostels.

ABVP's Kumar, however, was left with a warning. In September, Rohith and his four friends were suspended. The decision was upheld in December 2015. After confirmation of the suspension, the five students moved out from their hostels in the month of January.

They set up a tent in the North Shopping Complex of the campus, 'Velivada' or 'a Dalit ghetto' in Telugu, where they protested against the draconian univ administration through a relay hunger strike. All this while, Rohith's stipend had been stopped by the univ since July 2015.

TW: mention of suicide

On 17th January, 2019, Rohith died by suicide. Rohith's death may have been triggered by mounting financial pressures and politically-motivated casteist oppression.

Following his death, a case was registered against Dattatreya, Appa Rao Podile and BJP MLC under the purview of the SC/ST Atrocities Act. In response, BJP minister Sushma Swaraj remarked that Rohith was not Dalit.

However, the then-chairman of the SC/ST Commission, PL Punia, mentioned that he has documented evidence of Rohith being Dalit. He condemned the dismissal of Rohith's caste identity by Swaraj and other BJP leaders.

His death led to major protests not only in the UoH campus but across the country. Poet Ashok Vajpeyi returned the DLitt bestowed on him by UoH, saying, "How can I continue to be on the honours list of the Hyderabad Central university?"

Other politicians, including Rahul Gandhi and Mayawati, supported the protests. Mayawati called the death an institutional murder.

More than 120 academicians from all over the world wrote to Appa Rao Podile expressing their anguish at Rohith's death. The open letter can be read here: thehindu.com/news/national/…

Rohith left a poignant yet hard-hitting suicide note. He wrote, "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."

"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."

"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."

"For one last time,

Jai Bheem," said Rohith as he concluded his letter.

In response to his letter, writer and Carl Sagan's wife Ann Druyan wrote, "If we could somehow quantify the totality of lost contributions and innovations as a result of prejudice, I believe we would find it staggering."

She also wrote "Is it possible that the attention paid to Rohit’s story will lessen its chronic repetition? I am trying to find something hopeful in an otherwise heartbreaking example of needless suffering and squandered potential."

We looked around to find answers. We still hear of Dalit students in Indian educational institutions dying by suicide. Rohith's death and note remain a reminder for all that is unjust in Indian academia.

Today, we join in saying "Jai Bhim" as we think about the brave heart that Rohith was.

We also remember Rohith's mother, Radhika Vemula, who has been tirelessly fighting not only to bring justice to Rohith, but to bring justice to every Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi person who is being oppressed by the system. Jai Bhim!