Several Dalit and students organisations on Sunday (January 19, 2025) reiterated their demand that the Union government should enact a ‘Rohith Act’, to tackle caste discrimination in educational institutions of the country.
People’s Campaign for Rohith Act held a convention in the city on Sunday, in memory of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who ended his life over discrimination on January 17, 2016.
Rohith’s mother and anti-caste activist Radhika Vemula remembered her son as a “brilliant student”, but as someone who always faced discrimination. “Dalit students are institutionally discriminated against for receiving education. They have to overcome these hurdles to achieve dignity and upward mobility in their lives. It is because of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that I am still being denied justice. I do not want any other mother to go through the pain I went through and for that the enactment of the Rohith Act is critical,” she said.
She also expressed solidarity with Gopal Das of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, “fighting caste discrimination in his institute”.
Based on a complaint by Prof. Das and a probe by the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement, Karnataka, the city police had registered a FIR against the IIMB Director and seven other faculty members for alleged caste-based discrimination. The High Court of Karnataka has stayed the investigation into the FIR.
Rohith’s friend Dontha Prashanth shared insights into the discrimination students face in universities. “Campuses are not designed for inclusivity,” he said. “We are called anti-merit and face derogatory remarks in classrooms and hostels. Even in prestigious institutions like IITs and IIMs, reservations are poorly implemented,” he said, advocating for the ‘Rohith Act’.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com. Read the full story here.