: Marching with the students and later sitting patiently till the end of the rally at Jantar Mantar demanding justice for her son was Radhika Vemula, the mother of Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula who had committed suicide.
The family received “another blow” when Rohith’s grandmother, who had adopted Radhika, expired on Monday.
“All those who are victims of the attacks on various universities, please do not be scared. I am ready to fight with all of you. I see a Rohith in each one of you,” said Ms. Radhika in view of the JNU controversy. She also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking about the action taken against the Union minister who called her son an “anti-national”.
Highlighting the “oppression” of Dalits, she said: “Are universities in India not for Dalits? MLAs, MPs from Dalit community were elected to work for Dalits but most of them are working for their own parties. All the parties take the name of Ambedkar just for name's sake. Scholarships for Dalit students are not being disbursed on time.” Ms. Radhika also requested everyone to fight till the Rohith Act is brought.
Meanwhile, a 74-year-old woman, who is said to have raised the mother of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, died in Guntur on Monday and the family claims it was because of the “tension” created by the probe into the student's death. Speaking about her, Rohith’s brother Raja said, “She was questioned for five-six hours a day by local authorities. And due to this tension, she died yesterday. She was a heart patient and had undergone a bypass surgery.”
