Protests continued in Mumbai for the second day on Tuesday with students from different colleges staging a demonstration at Mumbai University’s Kalina campus over the suicide of Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula.
The protestors removed flags and posters put up by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, forced their way into the office of Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmukh located at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhavan and questioned him about a Satyanarayana puja organised there.
“The campus does not belong to one organisation. Mumbai University has become a highly brahminised space. We demanded that the VC take a stand on Rohith Vemula’s death and forward our demands to the higher government authorities,” Ashika Bhargava, an MPhil student told The Hindu .
The students gathered outside the main gate of the Kalina campus and condemned the incident as “institutional murder” and called for an end to the victimisation of Dalits. The police and University administration blocked them at the gate.
“We entered forcefully and marched towards the VC’s office which is situated in the Ambedkar Bhavan. There was a poster of ‘Satyanarayana puja’ to which the University has given permission. On the one hand they celebrate 125th birth anniversary of Dr. Ambedkar and on the other hand they celebrate an ideology against which Dr. Ambedkar fought. We questioned the VC on the meaning of holding this pooja,” Sreejith Murali, a TISS student told The Hindu .
“The protestors were enraged that a puja is being performed in front of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Bhavan, a building named after the constitution maker of India who criticised the Brahmanical nature of the Hindu religion,” the students said in a statement issued in the evening. A petition will be sent to the HRD Ministry.
Memorandum of demands
In their memorandum of demands, the students demanded strict action against the Hyderabad University administration and BJP MP Bandaru Dattatraya and BJP MLC Ramachandra Rao and the ABVP. They also demanded adequate compensation for Rohith’s family, revocation of the suspension of and compensation for academic and financial loss of four other Dalit scholars who were suspended along with Rohith. They also condemned police action against students who protested in Delhi and Hyderabad.
“The Hyderabad incident is not the first one. Instances of Dalit students facing a hostile environment on campuses have been rising,” said Mumbai University student Jai Subramanian.
The students came together under the banner of Mumbai Students’ Solidarity, comprising students from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai University, IIT-B, Nirmala Niketan, Siddharth College and Vivekananda College.
Political and activist groups like All India Students' Association (AISA), University Community for Democracy and Equality (UCDE), like Republican Panthers, Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) also joined the agitation.
Despite several attempts, Mr. Deshmukh was not available for comment.
