Backing the agitating students of the Hyderabad university, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday called the suicide of a Dalit research scholar at the premier institute a "national shame" and accused the Centre of trying to indulge in "casteist politics".
'Isn't it tragic, comic as well as ironic that the people who owe their allegiance to the Constitution of India are declared deshdrohis without an iota of evidence?' 'But this mistake has to be corrected and those who actually and directly fomented the Bhima Koregaon riots and the masterminds behind these people will have to be exposed now.'
The BSP chief alleged that Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party considered the Dalits as lowly.
In embarrassment for the BJP, former Union minister Sanjay Paswan on Thursday accused Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya of showing "grave insensitivity".
'We were at war with the BJP in the 1990s. We were burning down each other's offices then. I don't want that to happen again.'
In the backdrop of suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad University, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Ramdas Athawale today demanded that members of the community be allowed to possess firearms given a "vertical rise" in incidents of "atrocities" against them.
AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar on Wednesday reached Hydrabad to meet protesting students.
The mother said she would meet him only on the campus along with four other students who were suspended.
Agitators called for a 'Chalo HCU' protest march to press their demand for a 'Rohith Act' to safeguard SC/ST students.
Agitated over the alleged assault on student protesters by police, students from various universities across Delhi on Tuesday staged a protest outside police headquarters in New Delhi blocking the traffic at ITO intersection.
The report, sources said, would dwell on the role of the university authorities, who have been blamed for the suicide, and systemic aspects to ensure such incidents do not recur.
A local court granted bail to 25 students and two faculty members of HCU who were arrested in connection with the violence on the campus last week.
The board at AIIMS including members belonging to SC/ST said Krishnan died due to asphyxia and no injury mark was found on the body.
Stepping up their agitation against arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru University students union president Kanhaiya Kumar and two others in a sedition case, the students will march to Parliament on Wednesday demanding the release of those jailed in the case.
Twitter is a great medium for political leaders to communicate with their supporters and engage with their opponents. Provided the tweets are coherent and sensible. So why is the Delhi chief minister tweeting illogical stuff about the PM, asks Sudhir Bisht.
Party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it.
When it came to dealing with the media and academia, it has been a roller coaster ride for the National Democratic Alliance, observes Nitin Sethi.
Six of the seven students of the Hyderabad Central University, on hunger strike to protest the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, have been shifted to a health centre even as the agitators today took out a march to the residence of the interim head of the institution.
Rohith Vemula's suicide exposes all of us as a nation, argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
In his suicide letter, Rohith chose not to chronicle the events that led him to make his decision to kill himself but instead wanted human beings to be treated as minds, "as glorious things made up of star dust, in every field, in studies, in streets, in life and in death".
Although the authorities had maintained till the last minute that Mevani and his supporters did not have permission to hold the event, it seems the rally organisers and Delhi Police reached a compromise later.
The joint action committee members for social justice at Hyderabad Central University, on Saturday blocked the main gate of the varsity protesting removal of makeshift tents near the shopping complex on the campus.
A senior official said that Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje gave the direction in this regard to the home department yesterday following which remarks of the director general of police were sought on Wednesday.
YIM has been instrumental in more than 90 young Indian scientists going back to India.
The non-teaching staff of Hyderabad Central University, who had gone on a strike protesting vandalisation of VC's lodge on March 22 allegedly by a group of students, resumed their duties on Thursday as the situation on the campus remained peaceful.
TMC MP Professor Sugata Bose spoke eloquently on the topic of nationalism vs the freedom to dissent, whilst presenting a balanced view on the need to protect constitutional freedoms.
Holding a 'padyatra' in drought-hit Bundelkhand, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying he should think about farmers and labourers too and not just industrialists and give more funds for the backward region.
'The corporate world and the private sector economy take notice of the monstrous and apartheid like division that exists in our offices. The jobs we so casually take for granted in the upper class have come to us on the back of denial to others,' says Aakar Patel.
The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice of HCU appealed to the students to use blue ribbons as a means of protest, declaration and reminder of the fact that 'our fight is still on' while going about classes, labs and other activities.
Radhika, the mother of Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula, on Friday demanded immediate unconditional release of 25 students and two faculty members of Hyderabad Central University who were arrested in connection with incidents of vandalism at the VC's lodge
'Think about how he would have handled Hyderabad, and JNU. He would have been very cross if he found two of his Cabinet ministers weighing in on the side of the ABVP.' 'And if Rohith Vemula still killed himself, he would have been the first to speak out in anguish and empathy rather than deny he was a Dalit.' 'And JNU, he would have simply said something like, 'let the boys speak, then they will grow up and join the IAS).' 'A good idea, when in crisis, is to apply the 'Vajpayee test' to your actions,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Kanhaiya Kumar and others of his ilk are now out on bail. But what about the NIT 'anti-nationals'?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
'It is very hard to get the police to file a report against someone from an upper caste.' 'Things are so bad that sometimes we have to sit on a dharna with the body of a Dalit victim to get the police to file a complaint.'
The AISA, SFI, DSF and AISF have come together to form the 'United Left' alliance.
Returning to JNU campus on his release from jail three weeks after his arrest, Kanhaiya Kumar said they are seeking freedom within the country and not from India.
A total of 16 bills, including the GST Bill, Lokpal (Amendment) Bill, Factories (Amendment) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill are pending in Parliament -- five in Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.
Hyderabad Central University says it had taken a 'lenient view' by not imposing 'complete suspension' of the five research scholars, including the Dalit PhD student who committed suicide.
Modi and Shah can't afford to lose any of the 24 per cent Dalit vote of 2014, says Shekhar Gupta.
"The JNUSU rejects the punishment handed down by the administration on the basis of a farcical committee!" Kanhaiya tweeted.
Noam Chomsky maintained that India is "not the only country where educational institutions are being subjected to such attacks, though the sequence of events at JNU signal towards a culture of authoritarian menace".
