Why And What Happened In University of Hyderabad
By Omkar Nadh
27 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Photo By: Sahith
University of Hyderabad has been worst hit by the ruling classes to suppress the dissenting voices that were being raised shaming the discriminatory practices in the society and the role of state machinery in perpetuating such discrimination. The entire episode of Rohit Vemula, who is a victim of institutional killing by the NDA government at the centre and the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University, is the worst form that this discrimination has been manifested.
Even the interim report of the two member committee appointed by the MHRD suggests this. Given this situation the VC of University has gone on leave for almost 2 months and then Mr.Periasamy has took over as acting VC of University and the University was functioning normal with students getting ready for their end semester examinations. The return of Mr.Apparao at this point of time raises various questions like, since the enquiry in Rohit Vemula’s case is still under process where Mr.Apparao was prime accused, his occupancy of position which can tamper the evidences related to the case was a concern raised by the students. It is also stressed that that the counter affidavit filed by Hyderabad Commissioner Mr.CV Anand that ‘Mr. Susheel Kumar’s allegation that he was physically attacked was farce’ is not taken in to consideration by the University administration while awarding punishment to students and that the return of VC is in order to brush up all the evidences was the concern raised by the student community and it was with regard to this the students were protesting.
But the arrival of the VC took place in a very dramatic manner; it looks like he had fully planned his arrival with a cruel intent to disrupt the harmony in the campus by pitting one group of students against other and students against non-teaching staff. The student groups here are those ‘fighting for Justice for Rohit Vemula’ which includes 14 students organisations on campus and the ones ‘fighting against Justice for Rohit Vemula’ which includes ABVP.
It was informed to the non- teaching staff and ABVP students well before the VC took charge and they were called to the ‘VC’s guest house’ which is a non administrative venue. These students and staff were inside VC’s guest house where an executive committee meeting has been planned. Knowing this students demanding Justice for Rohit Vemula marched to the VC’s guest house asking him to step down of the chair until the enquiry is completed, this was the moment where all the students inside the VC’s guest house started intimidating students those demanding Justice for Rohit Vemula by shouting slogans like ‘Anti-Nationals Go Back’, ‘Apparao Zindabad’.
It was true that the situation was tense but if we were to ask for an answer ‘who was responsible for creating such a situation’? It was undoubtedly Prof.Apparao. Why was he so desperate to occupy the chair? What prevented him from waiting till the report of judicial committee is out? Why did he mobilise students ‘inside his guest house’? Why Executive Committee and Deans meeting was planned in a non-administrative place and why were selected group of students present where the meeting was taking place? Did the VC at least bother to talk to the democratically elected Students’ Union of the University before he wanted to resume the office? What is his respect for the democratic institutions of the University and what moral right does he have to occupy the chair?
Mr.Apparao had no answers to these questions; instead the only answer he could give was to subject students demanding Justice for Rohit Vemula to brutal police repression. It was such a pain that for the first time in the history of University of Hyderabad that such a brutal police crackdown has taken place. The Telangana state police were heinous to the extent that they issued rape threats to girl students, grabbed their private parts, called them prostitutes and what not.
The Muslim students were the ones who were most inhumanely treated, they have been called terrorists and an outrageous insensitivity has been shown towards them. These incidents can only be drawn parallel to the George Orwells’s Animal Farm where the ‘BRUTAL POLICE DOGS’ attack everyone who go against the ‘PIGS (THE BOSSES(read Government))’. But ironically when Telangana has a state government which came in to existence due to strong student movement, also played an active role in the violence unleashed by its police since law and order is a state subject.
Though it might look little hard to believe initially, this over enthusiasm of Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) government, it has been in the air since for quite some time now that TRS government wants to be a part of the NDA government in the centre and Ms. Kavitha a Loksabha MP from TRS, daughter of K.Chandra Sekhar Rao (KCR), Chief Minister of Telanagana will be given a post of Cabinet Minister in the Central Government adds a decent amount of weight to the news in air(often reported by Telugu media) for their over enthusiasm.
If we have to look at who are those students targeted by these governments both the TRS and BJP, a quick glance at the news item ‘Most students remanded belong to ‘disadvantaged strata’ reported in The Hindu on 24th March, 2016 which states that “Among the 25 protesters who were arrested on March 22, at least 15 are first generation literates who came to study in this institution of higher learning even as they hail from disadvantaged communities including Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims and Bahujans. More, put together they represent five States- Andhra Pradesh Telangana, Kerala, West Bengal and Orissa.” It would be a grave mistake to assume that the governments were ignorant about this fact. It has also to remembered that the whole Justice for Rohit Vemula movement is being carried out by Joint Action Committee for Social Justice consisting students mostly from deprived and disadvantaged sections.
In midst of all these Mr.Krishna Sagar Rao, the official spokes person of BJP, Telanagna has gone on air in NDTV on 25th March, 2016 in a debate titled “Hyderabad University Simmers: Campus held Hostage by Vested Intrests?’ saying that “The politics of students should be limited to their rights in campus, it should be limited to their facilities, amenities, it shouldn’t be an extension of main stream politics. That is not the college politics anywhere in the world.” This statement is not only condemnable but also indicates that any student movement that crosses the ‘Lakshmana Rekha’ drawn by the BJP government will be cracked down and brutally assaulted using state machinery.
Universities are places of critical thinking where debates, discussions take place with regard to larger evils in the society and come up with an alternative solution for a just society. That is the primary contribution of universities anywhere in the world. The statement by the Telanagana BJP spokes person is immature and only exposes his ‘RSS’ trained narrow understanding of the universities. Universities have a glory of fighting for larger social good; let it be the ‘Nirbhaya movement’, the Telanagana movement, the Occupy UGC movement, Social Justice Movements and many more to pen down.
Justice for Rohit Vemula movement and the demand for Rohit act is an act that identifies the forms of discrimination in Higher Educational Institutions and to put an end to this social menace of caste discrimination and it is for this cause the students of University of Hyderabad have been struggling for and Mr.Krishna Sagar Rao, please remember that your sophisticated threats can not deter the commitment of the student community of University of Hyderabad in particular and this country in general. The struggle for social justice will continue despite your Anti-Student, Anti-Dalit actions and any amount of police brutality will only add to our commitment for social justice.
Omkar Nadh, Research Scholar from Institute for Social and Economic Change, Benguluru and also an alumni of University of Hyderabad.