Hyderabad: “Let us keep dreaming together”, is what Rohith Vemula had posted on Facebook last year on January 30 after thanking all his friends for being with him through tough times and wishing him on his birthday.
Rohith would have turned 27 on Saturday. On Friday, University of Hyderabad students observed his birthday by expressing their anger over the circumstances that forced him to commit suicide on January 17 by conducting a candlelight march in the university at 11pm. Protesting students will also go on a mass hunger strike on Saturday in which hundreds of students are expecting to participate.
On Friday night it was revealed that Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will reach Hyderabad to participate in the candlelight rally, stay with them overnight in the university and leave the next day.
On Friday, the JAC for Social Justice, was met by 11 deans from the university for negotiations, but nothing came out of it.
Administrative building blocked, Vice-Chancellor sent back
Students at University of Hyderabad blocked the administrative building on Friday and sent back the interim vice-chancellor, Dr Vipin Srivastava, when he tried to enter the building in the morning.
This has come a day after Dr Srivastava told the media that normalcy would return in the university by Saturday.
Later on Friday the VC met the deans of the university; however the administration did not function the whole day and only two classes were conducted in the university.
Laboratories in the Science department functioned so that PhD scholars could continue their research.
Students posted pamphlets outside the administration building and elsewhere in the university demanding Dr Srivastava to step down.
The SC/ST Faculty Forum of the university too did not let down its guard on Friday. They continued their relay hunger strike as Prof. B. Nageswara Rao of the School of Economics, Mr Bittu Karthik of Centre for Neural and Cognitive Sciences and Prof. Sriparna of Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies sat on hunger strike on Friday; they were supported by the SC/ST employees’ union of the university.
Osmania University students on their way to CM office detained
Osmania University students were detained by police when they marched towards Chief Minister’s camp office on Friday seeking Telangana CM K. Chandrashekhar Rao’s intervention to ensure justice is delivered in Rohith Vemula’s suicide case.
The protesters alleged that the CM has been mysterious silent on the issue.
The students shouted slogans against Mr Rao for not visiting UoH so far while the ministers and leaders from various parties and other states have already visited the university to express their condolence. “National leaders and ministers from other states are visiting UoH to express homage to Rohith Vemula and support his family. However, our Chief Minister is keeping quite on this issue and trying to dilute the ongoing protest,” said M. Krishank, one of the student leaders.
