Rohith Vemula: The Closure Report Punctures Congress' Social Justice Narrative

Thoroughly embarrassed by its contents, the Congress government initiated immediate damage control measures.

Rohith Vemula's case was not just yet another case of alleged caste-based discrimination in a prestigious university. The case caught the imagination of both political parties and civil society groups.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

At a time when the party is going to the town on its avowed election promise of delivering social justice, the closure report of the Rohiht Vemula case filed by the police of the Congress-led Telangana government comes as a serious embarrassment to the grand old party.

Rohith Vemula's case was not just yet another case of alleged caste-based discrimination in a prestigious university. The case caught the imagination of both political parties and civil society groups.

Even Rahul Gandhi descended on the University of Hyderabad campus to express his party‘s solidarity with the students agitating for justice. Given that senior BJP leaders and the activists of the RSS-backed (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) are accused of involvement, the issue assumes national political proportions.

The then-ruling BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) was accused of displaying a recalcitrant attitude towards the protests at the University of Hyderabad over the death of the research scholar. The BRS was not so keen on joining the chorus as it was still not on the anti-BJP political track at the time the tragic suicide happened in 2016.

On the contrary, the Congress party, which was then in the Opposition, fired salvos both at the BJP alleging its direct role in the circumstances that led to Rohith Vemula's suicide and at the BRS for its intransigence in bringing the culprits to justice.

The latest controversy broke over the Telangana police filing a closure report before the Telangana High Court citing a lack of evidence in Vemula's case. The Telangana police absolved all those accused including BJP leaders and the then Vice-Chancellor of the university P Appa Rao. Besides him, among the accused were senior leaders of the BJP, including the then Secunderabad MP Bandaru Dattatreya, and then Minister for Education Smriti Irani.

The closure report, surprisingly, stated that Rohith Vemula did not belong to the Scheduled Caste community, leading the High Court to dismiss the writ petitions related to the case. The closure report agreed with the narrative put forth by the accused right from the beginning. This was much to the consternation of all those concerned who were expecting justice, especially when Congress is in power in a state that does not have any political compulsions.

Dalit groups and social activists slammed the police closure report. Challenging the report, the late Rohith‘s mother Radhika Vemula said, "How can my own child not be a Dalit when I am."

The Congress, which has promised a Rohith Vemula law to fight caste discrimination, could not be seen as endorsing a report that absolves all the accused, and, instead, accuses the dead student and his family of claiming Dalit status using fraudulent means.

The critics of the closure report argue that the police failed to comprehend the caste question and institutional discrimination perpetuated against marginalised students who reach the pedestals of institutions of excellence braving unprecedented odds. The closure report was casual in its conclusions. It failed to appreciate institutional insensitivity and instead, concluded that the reasons for the suicide were personal.

Thus the Telangana police closure report completely punctures the narrative that the Congress party, led by its top leader Rahul Gandhi, has been propagating across the nation. In fact, the Rohith Vemula episode was extensively utilised by the Congress in its fight against the Modi government.

Thoroughly embarrassed by the contents of the closure report that endorsed the version of the accused, the Congress government initiated immediate damage control measures. The DGP of Telangana, in a press release, clarified that the closure report was prepared before November 2023, suggesting it was the act of the previous BRS government. After the political fiasco over the closure report, the Telangana police decided to file a petition in the concerned court to permit further investigation into the suicide case.

Capitalising on the Congress government's flip-flop on such a politically sensitive issue, the BJP leader and the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi for politicising Rohith Vemula's suicide. She said that the intolerance, political interference, and hate lay not with the Union government but with vested interest groups which do not lose any opportunity to bring this toxin into centres of higher education.

Realising that the BJP is trying to gain political advantage out of this, Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal, in a statement released on Sunday, said that there were discrepancies in the Rohith Vemula investigation and the Congress government in Telangana would ensure justice to the family. In his social media post, the Congress leader said that Rohith Vemula's death was a grave atrocity that completely exposed the anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP.

The Congress leader’s remarks came a day after Rohit Vemula's mother Radhika Vemula met Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and urged him to ensure justice. His brother Raja Vemula said that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy expressed doubts regarding the reports prepared by the previous government and has promised transparency and fairness in the reinvestigation.

However, the Congress government cannot escape the huge political embarrassment given the fact that the closure report was filed four months after the Congress came to power. How can the Telangana police act with such callousness on such a politically sensitive case that too at the time of elections?

The Congress' worries are justified. The party is facing a surging BJP as the BRS is significantly declining after its defeat in the Assembly elections. As per the Lokniti CSDS post-poll study, the Scheduled Caste voters significantly rallied behind the Congress.

Surveys reveal that the BJP’s attempts to make a dent into the Congress' Dalit vote by making the Prime Minister endorse the demand for sub-classification seem to be showing no impact on the ground in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, the Congress party cannot afford to do anything that damages its crucial support base.

Justice in the Rohit Vemula case gives credence to the Congress' electoral promise of bringing an act in the name of the late scholar to fight discrimination against students belonging to marginalised communities on University campuses. Keeping all this in mind, the Congress government was quick to respond by ordering reinvestigation.

(Prof K Nageshwar is a senior political analyst, faculty member of Osmania University, and a former MLC. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)