What a report! “Personal frustration drove Rohith to suicide, not caste discrimination”

A one-man judicial commission- former Allahabad High Court judge A K Roopanwal set up by the HRD Ministry on January 28 this year, 11 days after Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula killed himself in his hostel room in the Hyderabad Central University, submitted its report. What does it say?

The inquiry concluded that Vemula’s mother “branded” herself as Mala(a Dalit sub caste) only because she managed to get the caste certificate from a person named Uppalapati Danamma, then a corporator, with whom she stayed for one and half years. “To me it appears that this caste certificate has no value and that in order to take benefit of Scheduled Caste she (Radhika) anyhow obtained the Mala Caste certificate from the corporator, Uppalapati Danamma in whose house she remained for one and half years,” the report states.

What else does it say?

“Personal frustration, not discrimination, drove the 26-year-old PhD scholar to suicide.Union Ministers Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani were only discharging their duties and there was no pressure on the Hyderabad Central University authorities.”

When asked by the media about his conclusions, Roopanwal said he did not wish to comment on the contents of the report. It was based on the deposition of over 50 people, a majority of whom were university teachers, officers and staff members. The retired judge had also met five university students and members of the joint action committee which led the agitation on campus.

It must be recalled here that the Guntur Collector had categorically vouched for the Dalit status of Rohith Vemula. It was for the government to punish those responsible for the suicide of Rohith, especially the university authorities under the VC Appa Rao. But the government remained silent.

Below is a copy of the scathing letter written by Rohith to the Vice chancellor on December 18th 2015, exactly a month before he was driven to commit suicide.

To,
The Vice Chancellor
Subject: Solution for Dalit problem

Sir,

First, let me praise your dedicated take on the Self-Respect movements of Dalits in HCU campus. When an ABVP president got questioned about his derogatory remarks on Dalits, your kind personal interference into the issue is historic and exemplary. 5 Dalit students are “socially boycotted” from campus spaces. Donald Trump will be a lilliput in front of you. By seeing your commitment, I am tempted to give two suggestions as a token of banality.

1. Please serve 10mg Sodium Azide to all the Dalit students at the time of admission. With direction to use when they feel like reading Ambedkar.

2.Supply a nice rope to the rooms of all Dalit students from your companion, the great Chief Warden.

As we, the scholars, PhD students have already passed that stage and already members of Dalit Self-Respect movement unfortunately, we here are left with no easy exit, it seems.

Hence, I request your highness to make preparations for the facility “EUTHANASIA” for students like me. And I wish you and the campus rest in peace forever.

Thanking You,
Yours sincerely
Rohith Vemula

Now this report comes at an opportune time for the central government, exonerating all the culprits by its audacious findings. “If Radhika Vemula is not a Dalit, Rohith Vemula is also not a Dalit,” is the new falsification of justice propagated by this report

No wonder the ruling BJP government is perceived as anti- Dalit. Adding insult to injury, this will only further alienate the Dalits from the ruling BJP government.

-UDAAN