Hyderabad: Rohith Vemula’s Facebook posts show how he changed from being just another student on the campus to one whose phrases adorn the walls of the University of Hyderabad and are being widely shared on social media.
His posts show how Rohith changed from being apolitical to sharing quotes of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and South American revolutionary Che Guevara, when he was a member of the Students Federation of India, to posting on the dominance of upper castes and taking a dig at those who lack knowledge of Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar but revere western philosophers when he was member of the Ambedkar Students Association.
The sentence in Rohith’s suicide note, “And I have become a monster” does not seem to be a thought that occurred to him suddenly.
In May 2013, he had posted: “When was the last time, you met the demon inside you???? The one which we always try to hide from the society, from our family, from any second person... the dark, strong, weird version of inner self... when was the last time it surpassed ur social barriers and conquered ur thoughts, acts, behaviour???? when ....!!!!????"
While there is controversy over the ASA stand on the hanging of Yakub Memon last year, Rohith wrote in 2012 after the Delhi gangrape: “Death punishment for the culprits is the minimum thing Government could do in this case... and still they are calculating on the verdict!!!!”
Another post shows the battle in Rohith’s mind: “My mom is a super mom... whenever I feel like giving up on my life, I always remember my mother and get inspire of how she never gave up on me... !!!!!.”
The thought did not stop him from committing suicide on January 17.
In contrast, on July 22, 2010, he had posted: “me joined in hyd central uni. the environment here is fantastic... nice people around... feeling quite happy... seeking some good friends here.”
And before in 2011 he had written: “Today we have done drosophila breeding experiment.... I wish to (be) born like drosophila fly in next life.”
