Rohith Vemula

The basic question that the Rohith Vemula case raises is about the existence of the rule of law in India. If his mother Radhika Vemula was rich, there would have been no issue about Rohith’s caste and all people named in the FIR for abetting his suicide would have been in jail. But her fault is that she lived off the pittance that Rohith sent her from his paltry fellowship!

The students of the University of Hyderabad have passed a resolution unanimously at their Students' Union's general body meeting on 12 April 2016 demanding a Committee Against Prejudice and Discrimination on campus. This committee is seen as a way to institutionalise their struggle against prejudice and discrimination, which saw an intensification in the past few months. This proposed CAPD will comprise all sections of the university community and will focus on redressing complaints of prejudicial treatment and discrimination within campus. Modelled on the anti-sexual harrassment committee, it is also expected to create awareness about overt and covert forms of discrimination and prejudice.

We, the members of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association, express solidarity with students, teachers, writers, creative artists and activists in India fighting for the rights to freedom of expression, life and liberty, in the context of increasingly virulent attack

If nationalist sentiments are the only and final prerogative to belong to an academic community, then it must also be reiterated, a university has no business to share these sentiments. The founding figures of JNU knew it and it is upon the entire community of students, teachers and concerned citizens to safeguard the university against such jingoistic versions of nationalism.