A bus plastered with pictures of Rohith Vemula and posters seeking support for ‘Chalo Delhi’ mass gathering took off from University of Hyderabad (UoH) here on Thursday. The bus, which has 10 members of UoH’s Joint Action Committee for Social Justice and 11 others from affiliated organisations, is expected to tour all 10 districts of Telangana till February 17.
On Friday, another bus with over 20 activists, including student leaders, will be flagged off at UoH to tour 13 districts in Andhra Pradesh. About 130 students of the university also marched to the High Court here on Thursday to pledge solidarity with four research scholars who are still fighting a legal battle against their expulsion from the hostels.
During the course of the six-day bus trip, student leaders of UoH will interact with their counterparts in most campuses in the two States and also the general public. The tour is meant to be a symbolic protest and mobilisation move ahead of ‘Chalo Delhi’ called by the JAC, a statement read. According to the JAC’s plan, students from across campuses in the country will converge in New Delhi on February 23 to express their solidarity with the Justice for Rohith Vemula movement.
Prof. Kancha Ilaiah, former faculty member of Osmania University and UoH, flagged off the bus at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Speaking to the media at UoH, Prof. Iliah said the movement for justice will gain strength in the coming months till justice is served for Rohith. “No organisation, party or government will be able to stop the rage rising from campuses. Every student or citizen who joins the Delhi protest will speak against discrimination which they have faced ever since their birth,” Mr. Ilaiah said.
Student leaders who assembled on the campus around 10 a.m. on Thursday said that the JAC wants general public to come out of their homes and resist caste discrimination and other forms of discrimination on campuses. UoH students made their first stop at Vikarabad, about 70 kilometres from here. The bus also toured Parigi and Mahbubnagar on the same day. The second bus will leave UoH campus at 8 a.m. on Friday.
