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A Clarion Call
Rohith’s death triggered wider solidarities, but it is up to us to change our institutions.
Even a year after Rohith Vemula’s suicide in the University of Hyderabad (UoH), it is difficult to express the anguish of lost dreams and aspirations of a young person whose death was preventable. In death, Rohith has inspired young people to come out in solidarity across the country. In their struggle for justice for Rohith, his mother Radhika Vemula, along with the students’ Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, reached out across the country to support others in the fight against caste and communal prejudice, and discrimination. The past year has shown that a politics of wider solidarities is indeed one that is possible.
On 17 January, Radhika hoped to join the students at Rohith’s university in remembrance. Others who suffered at the hands of this government were also planning to attend—Jaan Mohammad, the brother of Mohammad Akhlaq who was murdered by a Hindu right-wing group for supposedly consuming beef; Haseeb Ahmad, missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmad’s brother; Dalit survivors of Una, Gujarat; and suspended JNU student Rahul Sonpimple. Rohith’s legacy has become a clarion call against state oppression of underprivileged castes, minorities, and for all those who have been denied dignity and rights by the Indian state.
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