Hyderabad, March 26 (NSS): The controversy surrounding the caste factor of deceased Ph.D scholar Rohith Vemula of Hyderabad Central University, who had recently committed suicide triggering off protests in various universities across the country, one again became a point of debate in the Telangana State Assembly on Saturday.
During the course of a debate with regard to various developments in both the HCU and OU, Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, while making a statement in the House, said deceased Rohith Vemula was not a Dalit but belonged to Vaddera caste and there were no issues relating to the Dalits in the HCU.
Congress member Sampath Kumar, who is also a Dalit, countered the Home Minister’s statement and asserted that Rohith Vemula was a Dalit by caste and this was duly established by the SC Commission and the MRO, who had issued certificates to that effect. Displaying copies of the certificates, the Congress member wondered why no action was taken against those, who had issued false certificates if Rohit Vemula was not a Dalit. Why the State government had not arrested the MRO for issuing a false certificate, he demanded. (NSS)