Those with good memories know that after Rohith Vemula’s suicide, BJP leaders, of whom Smriti Irani was the most vocal, repeatedly accused Rohit of lying that he was a Dalit. An attempt was made to prove Rohit’s mother also a liar. (Author Apoorvanand)
Rohith Vemula kept coming to mind again and again during the 2024 elections for the new Lok Sabha. The main reason for this is that this time, among the words used most in the election campaign, words like Scheduled Caste, Tribe, or Dalit and Adivasi were heard the most. Bharatiya Janata Party’s chief campaigner Narendra Modi, who incidentally is also the Prime Minister of India, was the first to express concern for the interests of these communities. Understanding his gesture, all the BJP leaders shouted that they were afraid that the Congress party people would hijack the resources shared by these Dalit and tribal communities and distribute them to the Muslims. They are getting this share mainly in the form of reservation. BJP alleges that Congress will take their reservation and give it to Muslims.
While all this brouhaha was going on, Telangana Police was in the final stages of closing the case of Rohith Vemula’s death by suicide. He said that Rohit Vemula had committed suicide due to being upset with the situations created by himself. But the police also said that the real thing was that Rohith Vemula, along with his mother, had fabricated a lie about his caste that he was a Dalit. According to the police, Rohit cannot be considered a Dalit as his father belongs to the ‘Other Backward Caste’ community. Rohit’s mother is definitely a Dalit but that does not determine Rohit’s caste. According to the police, it was becoming difficult for Rohit to keep this lie going. Apart from this, he was doing something else instead of studies. All these together created such situations which Rohit could not face and he committed suicide.
Had it not been for the sustained attention of the teachers and students of the Hyderabad Central University and other Dalit rights activists, Rohith Vemula’s case would have been buried somewhere in the government and police files. But he went to the Chief Minister regarding this. Right now the government is of Congress. The police had taken this action during the previous government. The Congress government has forbidden the police to close the case.
It was not the job of the police to give a judgmental opinion about Rohit’s caste. The work of certification of caste is done by other officials. No statement has come from there. Then how did the police reach this conclusion? Secondly, it has been said many times after Rohit’s death that Rohit’s mother and father were separated and Rohit was brought up by his mother. Then how will Rohit’s caste be decided? In which caste-community did he grow up and what would determine his social status? Along with this, the Supreme Court has also clarified the position in such a context. Then why did the police find it necessary to highlight this aspect?
Rohit Vemula left his studies and got involved in politics. Because of this he was not able to handle his research. The police do not record that Rohit had received Junior Research Fellowship twice. Apart from this, the police also misinterpreted Rohit’s statement written before committing suicide and attributed his political confusion as the reason for suicide.
It was surprising that this behavior of the police towards Rohith Vemula was not discussed during the election campaign. This is because this entire matter reveals the real attitude of BJP towards Scheduled Castes or Dalits.
Those with good memories know that after Rohith Vemula’s suicide, BJP leaders, of whom Smriti Irani was the most vocal, repeatedly accused Rohit of lying that he was a Dalit. An attempt was also made to prove Rohit’s mother a liar.
Let us ponder over this devilish action of BJP leaders for a while. A Dalit student committed suicide. Before that, there had been an incident of harassment by BJP’s friendly organization Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. The administration also supported ABVP and punished Rohit. Union ministers of BJP have repeatedly written letters demanding action against Rohit and his friends.
BJP ministers were spreading propaganda against Rohit and Ambedkar Students Association. The reason for this was the protest by Rohit and his organization against the hanging of Afzal Guru and the movement against the oppression of Muslims. Rohit had written in support of the beef festival held at Osmania University in Hyderabad, saying that generally he is against any public protest on food issue but since eating beef is being made a crime, this type of public protest makes sense. . You remember, Mohammad Akhlaq was thrown out of his house in Dadri near Delhi and killed by a mob of Hindus on the allegation that there was beef in his fridge.
How can one support Dalit Muslims? If he does this then he is a fake Dalit. Or he is not a Dalit but a Maoist. His Dalit status can be eliminated because of his politics. Dalits do not have the right to decide their own politics and solidarities. Especially they cannot stand with Muslims. Similarly, Sikhs are told that they cannot support Muslims because Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh were tortured by the Mughals. If they support Muslims even after this, they are declared terrorists.
This was the time when BJP people started accusing Rohit and his student organization that they were not real Dalits and were Maoists because they were not demanding reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia.
The argument in favor of the demand for ending the minority status of these two universities was that both of them are able to get this exemption because they are minorities. In this way, BJP started trying to incite violent sentiments against Muslims in the Dalit community. She is still walking.
Ending the minority status of AMU and Jamia will be a big symbolic victory in the direction of ending the social status of Muslims. The argument of social justice is being taken for this. The number of Dalits and backward people is important for the dominance of Hindutva politics. That is why this time in the election campaign, BJP is making itself a well-wisher of Dalits and backward classes so that they can be used as a shield to attack Muslims.
Rohit Vemula is dangerous because he is a representative of a politically educated Dalit who knows that Dalits will be mere pawns in Hindutva politics and will be used against Muslims. But regardless of this, he considers it his duty to fight for the rights of minorities. Therefore, BJP’s politics decides that Rohit Vemula does not even have the right to be a Dalit.
Courtesy: Hindi News
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