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On Tuesday, there was a palpable tension in the air at Osmania University’s Arts College building. The college is generally considered the epicenter of all dissent on campus.
A few policemen deployed at the spot looked on cautiously, as students spoke to each other and a few mediapersons gathered.
Trouble began in Osmania University on Sunday when E Murali, a 21-year-old student doing his Master’s degree in Physics, hanged himself in the bathroom of the University’s Maneru Hostel.
According to the police, a suicide note recovered from Murali said that he had decided to kill himself because he was afraid of failing his exams.
Angry students then blocked access to the hostel for many hours and refused to let Murali’s body be taken away for a post-mortem.
Following this, a video on Sunday night showed policemen in riot gear breaking down the door of a hostel room and assaulting students with lathis.
This was followed by more clashes on Monday when students gathered in large numbers at around 10 am and shouted slogans against Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the police.
Several students were detained by the police, who charged them with violence on campus.
Hailing from Gajwel of Siddipet mandal in Telangana, Murali came from an OBC community and was a first-generation graduate student from his family. There are several students like him on campus and they all have one major problem — unemployment.
Others also remarked that many people on campus were waiting for job notifications.
However, three years later, the predicted 2 lakh jobs are nowhere in sight, the students say.
Most students who had gathered on Tuesday were part of the Telangana struggle for a separate statehood, but now are vexed with the TRS government for going back on its promise of providing placements.
It was this same sentiment that was tapped by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), led by KCR’s former aide N Kodandaram, which organised a rally of unemployed youth and students in Hyderabad on Monday.
He demanded that the government take steps on a war-footing to fill the 3 lakh vacancies. He said instead of addressing the issue, the ruling TRS was branding them politically unemployed.
Many students are also irked with the state crackdown, saying it was uncalled for.
“Universities are supposed to be centers for freedom of expression that is guaranteed under the Constitution. If we can’t express ourselves here, where will we do it?” one student asked.
Many said they fought for a separate Telangana, at the very same spot, only for the new state’s government to turn on them.
A fact-finding committee also visited the University on Tuesday to ascertain what had happened on Sunday night.
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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