Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad have strongly condemned Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for allegedly politicising the academic campus of the University of Hyderabad and the suicide of Rohith Vemula recently.
The activists, as part of their nation-wide campaign to protest against Mr. Rahul Gandhi and a debate to bring out the truth behind the suicide case, staged a demonstration at Rani Channamma Circle here on Tuesday and shouted slogans against Mr. Rahul Gandhi.
The ABVP said that the suicide should not be used to divide society on the lines of Dalit and non-Dalit to gain political mileage.
The Left ideologues were misappropriating the legacy of B.R. Ambedkar instead of addressing the ideological confrontation between Dalits and non-Dalits on the campus there.
The activists said that academic campuses should be free from caste and political conflicts or politics, and political parties should refrain from exploiting such incidents happening on such campuses for political gains. Mr. Rahul Gandhi should desist from playing the Dalit card to suit Congress’ politics, they added.
‘State your stand’
Meanwhile, the former KPCC member Shankar Munavalli, addressing a press conference, said that top BJP leaders such as Union Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Subramanian Swamy had passed sarcastic and derogatory remarks against Dalits.
He said that none of the BJP leaders had condemned the Hyderabad suicide. The former Ministers of the party, including Arvind Limbavali who was accommodated in the Cabinet of B.S. Yeddyurappa government considering his Dalit background, was also silent on the issue. The BJP, instead of criticising Mr. Rahul Gandhi, should state its stand on Dalits, he said.
