V-C, minister abetted Rohith Vemula’s suicide: Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who visited the University of Hyderabad in the wake of the alleged suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, on Tuesday said that it was the institution which had used “its power to crush” him.

He also said that the University’s vice-chancellor had no right to continue in office and the vice-president called for his resignation.

“The idea of a University is that young people from the country can come here and express whatever is in their heart,” said the Congress vice-president adding, “whether their ideas are interesting, not interesting, smart, not smart — students must feel that this is an institution where they can say whatever they want to without being punished.”

“The idea of university is knowledge and when you try to impose on youngsters one idea, you cause tremendous pain to the passion that the person has,” he said. “The institution, instead of operating fairly, has used its power to crush the students,” he added.

Rohith Vemula was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the university in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader.

His alleged suicide on Sunday led to protests all over the country, with activists of a local outfit demonstrating outside the residence of Dattatreya, who has been accused in the case, demanding his immediate resignation.
http://www.firstpost.com/politics/v-c-minister-abetted-rohith-vemulas-suicide-rahul-gandhi-on-dalit-students-death-2590182.html