Hyderabad: The family of University of Hyderabad research scholar Rohith Vemula will be converting to Buddhism in the presence of Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s grandsons, Prakash and Anandraj Ambedkar, at an event to be held in Mumbai, on Thursday. Rohith’s mother Radhika and brother Raja Vemula have already arrived in Mumbai.
The university had suspended Rohith and four other students from hostels after they allegedly assaulted an ABVP leader over a heated argument over the hanging of Yakub Memon in August 2015.
The suspension is believed to be one of the leading reasons behind the scholar’s suicide on January 17 this year. Rohith was a follower of Buddhism according to close friend D. Prashanth. The latter is one of the research scholars, who along with Rohith, was faced with varsity-initiated disciplinary action.
“Ambedkar was a Buddhist and being his follower, Rohith too took a liking for Buddhism. Also, his last rites were also done according to Buddhist traditions,” said Prashanth.
The family too released a statement ahead of the event. “Even though we belong to the Hindu religion, we are subjected to humiliation by upper caste Hindus. I am fed up with Hinduism in which there is widespread discrimination among the upper castes and the backward castes. Also, it was very inhuman of the government to not hold the vice-chancellor of the Hyderabad University responsible for Rohith’s death,” Ms Radhika told Anandraj Ambedkar, a grandson of Dr Ambedkar.
The ceremony will be conducted at Ambedkar Bhavan in Dadar on Thursday morning in the presence of Rohith’s mother and other family members. Buddhist monks, who have been invited for the event, will carry out the rituals necessary to be practiced before one converts to Buddhism.
