Live: There’s a Rohith in Every Institution in India: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi joins Hyderabad University students in the hunger strike demanding action in Rohith Vemula suicide case.

Rahul Gandhi at the Hyderabad University with protesting students. (Photo: PTI)

Tap to refresh

• Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi visits Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and addresses the students who are on strike.
  
• Rohith Vemula was found hanging in a hostel room in HCU on 17 January.
  
• HCU Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, and few more were named in an FIR related to the case.
  
• Appa Rao Podile went on a “personal leave,” leaving Vipin Srivastava as interim VC.
  
• Srivastava was on the Executive Committee which suspended Vemula.
  
• Srivastava went on leave hours before Rahul Gandhi reached the campus.
  
• M Periasamy has replaced Srivastava as interim VC.

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 5:52 PM

After addressing the students Rahul Gandhi and Rohith Vemula’s mother end their hunger strike at the HCU campus. 

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 5:57 PM

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addresses students at the Hyderabad University.

Rahul said, “There is a lot of discrimination towards students from different categories in India”. He also said that there is a Rohith Vemula in every educational institution in our country.

Rahul also said, “The prime minister must come and share his ideas with the students here and if those ideas are acceptable to the students, I am fine with it”.

He also took the opportunity to slam PM Modi saying,

I want to respectfully tell Prime Minister Narendra Modi that when you call a young boy anti-national, it is a disservice to the people. Everyone in this country is made of Indians and no one here is anti-national. 

Rahul added, “My main opposition to Mr Modi and the RSS is that they are trying to crush the spirit of Indian youngsters by imposing one idea from the top”. He also alleged that one day the very same people who crushed Rohith Vemula will try to block other students’ path too.

BJP’s Nalin Kohli responded to Rahul Gandhi’s speech immediately on Times Now and defended the Central government on the issue. The BJP had earlier alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the Hyderabad Central University was an attempt to gain political brownie points.

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 5:57 PM

The protest at the Hyderabad University continues. If Rohith Vemula were alive today, he would have turned 27 years old.

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 5:01 PM

Protests Outside RSS Office in Delhi

Students in Delhi are protesting outside the office of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Students protest outside RSS office in Delhi. (Photo Courtesy: ANI)

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 3:43 PM

Another Dalit Victim’s Mother Writes to Rohith Vemula’s Mother and Friends

Mother of another Dalit victim Aniket Ambhore, an Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay who committed suicide in 2014, has written to the family and friends of Rohith Vemula, and shared her grief.

The letter was posted on a Facebook page dedicated by IIT Bombay to Rohith Vemula.

Though Rohith has not blamed anybody in his letter, it is very heart wrenching. I can see the similarities between the thoughts of the two, Aniket and Rohith, and I am trying to understand what pain they must have gone through. 

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/IITBwithRohith/posts/155249648185831">Sunita Ambhore, Mother of Aniket Ambhore</a>

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 3:43 PM

ADVERTISEMENTADVERTISEMENT

Telangana Congress Members Detained

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders who were protesting outside Hyderabad University, have been detained by the police.

TPCC members protesting outside Hyderabad University detained by police. (Photo Courtesy: ANI)

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 2:54 PM

Congress Says “Dalit Issues Are Lifeline of Country”

After heavy criticism from the BJP, Congress has responded by saying that the Dalits are the lifeline of the country but for the BJP, issues faced by Dalits are political issues.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi with students protesting against Rohith Vemula’s suicide at the Hyderabad Central University, on 30 January 2016. (Photo: IANS)

The protest, meanwhile, is joined by more students from Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru universities.

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 2:24 PM

New Interim VC Says we Cannot be Fighting Forever

Even as Rahul Gandhi joins the protesting students at the Hyderabad university, M Periasamy, the interim VC of Hyderabad University appointed on Friday night has said that the students raised genuine concerns, and “should not be fighting forever,” in an interview with CNN-IBN.

We cannot be fighting for ever; students raised genuine problem also, need to look into that. I can go and meet Rahul, and tell him our problems; we are one of the best universities and hope to invite PM.

<b>M Periasamy, Interim VC, Hyderabad University</b>

However, he kept the question of what measures the university will take to re-establish peace on campus, unanswered.

I would like to bring normalcy to the University of Hyderabad. We will see what we can we do about the students’ demands.

<b>M Periasamy, Interim VC, Hyderabad University</b>

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 2:28 PM

BJP Slams RaGa

The Bharatiya Janata Party slammed Rahul Gandhi’s second visit to the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus calling it “classic politics of vulturisation” and “cheap politics”.

Venkaiah Naidu:

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu termed Gandhi’s visit to be a part of the “anti-Modi campaign”.

They are shedding crocodile tears to gain political mileage, polluting atmosphere of Universities. This is a part of their anti-Modi campaign. All this is cheap politics.

<b>Venkaiah Naidu, Parliamentary Affairs Minister</b>

Nalin Kohli:

National spokesperson of BJP, Nalin Kohli has questioned if Rahul Gandhi’s visit was intended to disturb the university atmosphere when “peace was finally returning”.

When peace was finally returning to the University of Hyderabad, going there to protest raises question on Rahul Gandhi’s intentions. Rahul Gandhi doesn’t go everywhere, he never went to Malda. Does he only go to places where he can gain political mileage?

<b>Nalin Kohli, Spokesperson, BJP</b>

However, the protests in the university have shown no signs of decreasing momentum as the students have been protesting in innovative ways.

Krishna Saagar Rao:

Spokesperson of BJP Telangana, Krishna Saagar Rao, called it RaGa’s attempt to politicise a tragic incident in a desperate attempt to earn political brownie points.

He questioned Gandhi’s absence in Tamil Nadu where three female students from SVS medical college in Villupuram district.

Rahul Gandhi and Congress are so politically bankrupt and unemployed that he has to politicise tragic death of a student repeatedly. Why is Rahul Gandhi not in Chennai, where three girls committed suicide almost a week ago. His desperate attempt to earn some petty political expediency, has brought him back to HCU campus. This is classic politics of vulturisation.

<b>Krishna Saagar Rao, Spokesperson, Telangana BJP</b>

Also read: Death of Students in Vilupuram College: Suicide Or Murder?

Zafar Islam:

MA Naqvi:

Sambit Patra:

The way insensitivity has been shown by Rahul Gandhi, is the reason why I say Rahul and responsibility cannot go together. There has been a constant attempt to make Rohith Vemula issue a Dalit vs non-Dalit one.&nbsp;

<b>Sambit Patra, BJP Member</b>

Nitin Gadkari:

Exams are approaching in Hyderabad. Govt has already formed judicial commission. I suggest he (Rahul Gandhi) should not make the University a political den, considering the future of the students of University of Hyderabad.&nbsp;

<b>Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways</b>

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 2:32 PM

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi joined the students protesting outside the Hyderabad University, who have been on a 18-hour-mass hunger strike, on Saturday morning. Rohith Vemula’s mother, and students of FTII Pune have also joined the hunger strike.

Saturday also happens to the birthday of Rohith Vemula, the student whose death sparked this protest.

Gandhi who arrived at the university at 12.10 am on Saturday spoke to nearly 2,000 agitating students and lit candles before Vemula’s picture.

Vemula, a Dalit PhD student, was found hanging in a hostel room of the university on 17 January.

Also read: Hyderabad Interim VC Changed Hours Before Rahul Gandhi’s Visit

A young life full of dreams and aspirations was cut short. I am here today at the request of Rohith’s friends and family, to stand with them in their fight for justice. We owe it to him, to memory of Gandhiji, to every single Indian student who dreams of an India free from prejudice and injustice.&nbsp;

<b>Rahul Gandhi, Congress Vice President</b>

Follow The Quint’s live updates.

(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)

Updated at:30th Jan, 2016 at 11:14 AM