“Rohith’s desire was to become a doctor, and he cried a lot to my mother, but she refused. He said he would stop at MSc and get a job, but I insisted he pursue a PhD, saying it would at least add ‘doctor’ to his name. I sometimes feel that it is my mistake that I pushed him to get admission to HCU,” says Radhika Vemula, mother of Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar who was institutionally murdered on this campus nine years ago.
Radhika was speaking at ‘Rohith Shahadat Din,’ which was observed at the University of Hyderabad to mark nine years of denied justice to Rohith Vemula, as all accused roam free.
The event was organised by many student associations that have mobilised under the banner of ‘Justice for Rohith Vemula,’ a movement that traces its origins to the tragic events of 2016, when the authorities used all their might against five Dalit scholars, culminating in the death of Rohith.
Dr. Laxman Yadav, an expelled professor from Delhi University, was the chief guest of the event, alongside Adv. Raghunath V., the lawyer safeguarding the legal battle surrounding Rohith Vemula’s case.
A host of other guests, including Anupama Alias, the wife of the late Anil Xavier, who had sculpted the Rohith Stupa at Velivada, Prof. K. Laxminarayana from the Department of Economics at HCU, and Chandram Panchami, a survivor of caste violence from Telangana, were also present.
Dr. Laxman Yadav, who himself faced caste-based exclusion at the hands of the Delhi University administration, pointed out the growing attacks on academic spaces. From the UGC Appointment Guidelines 2025 to the establishment of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA), the BJP government at the centre is keen on crippling education for Dalits, he asserted.
Advocate Raghunath highlighted how the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act lacks any measures against institutional discrimination, hence the need for a ‘Rohith Act’ to fill the void and save countless other Rohiths across the country. The lawyer said Brahminical institutions “maliciously drive students to extreme ends,” and regulations against them are the context in which they have gathered today.
Dr. Dontha Prashanth, an economics professor at Azim Premji University and one of the five Dalit scholars who were boycotted in 2015, talked about the nature of commitment that the Ambedkar Students’ Association holds towards Ambedkarite ideology. He said it was this commitment to self-respect that shook the foundations of the Manuvadi state, leading then-VC Appa Rao to socially boycott these scholars under pressure from then Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya and then HRD Minister Smriti Irani.
The event began with Radhika Vemula garlanding Rohith’s Stupa at Velivada, as students raised slogans of resistance.
A march from Velivada to Gurram Kalekuri Amphitheater was carried out after the garlanding, where the main event took place.
After the main event, famed Telugu poet, singer, and MLC Goreti Venkanna from Telangana joined for a condolence meet. He sang Galli Chinnadi and a couple of anti-caste songs, raising his voice against manifestations of caste inequality, especially in land distribution. He also remembered the ideals of Buddha and Karl Marx and the significance of Babasaheb Ambedkar in the struggle for social justice.
“Despite several attempts by the university administration to erase the history of resistance against caste discrimination in academic spaces, the students have ensured that their call for justice is heard loud and clear. As they entered the ninth Shahadat year, a plethora of events commemorating the legacy of Rohith Vemula began to take place across the university,” said a press release by Justice for Rohith Vemula.
Documentary screenings, interactive sessions, sit-outs at Velivada, Songs of Resistance, rallies in remembrance, and photo exhibitions beginning January 8 have ensured that the tragic events of January 2016 are reiterated loud enough lest anyone dares to forget.
Various national leaders had visited the campus in 2016, soon after a global movement erupted, putting caste discrimination in higher academia to its worst test to date. Last year, Telangana police moved forward with filing a closure report on the Rohith Vemula case, which revolved mostly around ascertaining his caste identity rather than investigating the circumstances of Rohith’s death. It was only after massive outcry by the student fraternity that the state reopened the case.
“As the culprits escape every step of culpability, the Justice for Rohith Vemula movement at the University of Hyderabad continues to resist by never forgetting,” say the students of the University of Hyderabad.
