NEW DELHI: Hundreds of students and faculty members of various universities gathered here on Tuesday and took out a march from Ambedkar Bhawan to Jantar Mantar to condemn the “institutional killing” of 26-year-old scholar of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Rohith Vemula.
Members of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Aadmi Party students’ wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) also participated in the solidarity march along with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Delhi University (DU).
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that he will be meeting Vemula’s mother at Jantar Mantar.
“Will go to Jantar Mantar to express solidarity with Rohith’s family and to speak to students,” he tweeted.
JNU student accused of raising anti-national slogans at the JNU on February 9, Umar Khalid’s father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool, president of political outfit Welfare Party of India, also took part in the protest along with his party members.
Vemula committed suicide on January 17, triggering widespread protests demanding action against central ministers Smriti Irani, Bandaru Dattatreya and others, blaming them for the suicide.
Five Dalit students, including Vemula, were suspended in September following a clash with a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).