Demands resignation of VC Podile Appa Rao
By TCN News,
On Sunday March 27, several dozen NRIs in Boston gathered to express outrage at the brutal crackdown by Telangana police on University of Hyderabad (UoH) students and faculty. It was organized by members from Ambedkar International Center, Boston Study Group and Ambedkar International Mission in response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in UoH.
In the past week, the return of UoH VC Podile Appa Rao, an accused in the death of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, plunged the prestigious university in chaos. The VC entered campus in early hours in an orchestrated move by using faculty members and the right wing student group ABVP as a shield. Students protesting against the role of caste discrimination in Rohith’s death were outraged at his return and staged angry demonstrations on campus. Then, in a move that shocked the country and sparked international outrage, Telangana police brutalized the students especially targeting senior student leaders for brutal beatings. Several dozen students and two faculty members were arrested, and have since been released.
Protesters in Boston raised slogans against the Telangana police and demanded the arrest of the VC Appa Rao. Speaking to the gathering Mr. Venkat Maroju, alumni of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and member of Ambedkar International Center said it was depressing to see the way students have been treated like hardcore criminals. He said that in such an elite institution, these students are some of the brightest minds in the country and should be accorded that respect. He condemned the brutal crackdown especially of students from marginalized backgrounds who have struggled and sacrificed to make it to top universities.
An organizer with Ambedkar International Mission condemned the filing of criminal cases against students and said that this was a calculated move to ruin the lives of the students and leaders who are organizing the demands for justice for Rohith Vemula. He expressed full support for the students and urged the Telangana government to drop all the cases and arrest the VC who is named in the SC/ST atrocity case filed after Rohith’s death. He said that the diaspora should publicize the issue of caste discrimination and government complicity at an international scale including at the UN.
Somnath Mukherjee, a longtime resident of Boston, urged participants to support the promotion of democratic process in India including access to due process and independent media coverage. He pointed out that majority of commercial Indian media does not cover issues from the grassroots perspective and said that social media is an important tool to circulate and build solidarity with those on the ground.
Umang Kumar from Boston Study Group noted that involvement of diaspora is critical to keep a continued focus on the human rights violations in India. He said that the diaspora protests that have erupted after the death of Rohith Vemula signal the beginning of a new wave of active engagement and focus on India the renewed diasporic interest in annihilating the shameful caste system that India continues to suffer from. The participants resolved to continue to monitor and highlight the issue till a democratic situation was restored justice was done in the case.