Rohith Vemula suicide: 'The lion knows how to write, but pen and paper belong to the hunter'

Rohith Vemula suicide

The “intellectuals” need a lesson in history (“They call us anti-national: Anand Patwardhan”). It is unfortunate that you carry such antediluvian views on your website. They can be deemed as “traitors” in any other country. Your editorial board needs to be more prudent. A “famous” name does not ipso facto give one a liberty the present a biased and distorted view. – Ravindra Krishna

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This article is highly prejudiced against some sections of society. You keep referring to them as “they”; I would appreciate a more specific reference. You are making it sound like the current state of this country is solely because of right-wing groups. Is that what you are claiming? Please clarify that. I am no scholar, but I personally do not agree with some of the points made here.

I understand that you might have researched extensively before writing the article, but I feel the research may have been biased, allowing you to see only what you wish to see. In addition, I question the timing of this protest. – Vinay Kotak

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I think the writer has got all the facts wrong. This is nothing but malicious slander. – JR Krishnan

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Yes, we, the ordinary citizens of Bharat called him anti-national, because he (and people like you, Anand Patwardhan) support a terrorist who killed many innocent citizens of Bharat. – Sri Kotti

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Citing examples of a few hardliners does not make all of them radicals. This article is engineered to defame Hindus. Anand Patwardhan is one of those who feels that self-denigration is nobility. – Girish Shah

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A strong piece that chops everything the saffron party stands for from its very roots for us to see what it really is.

I think I understand the angst stemming from the BJP slinging the anti-national sentiment on a man who can’t defend himself from beyond the grave. Thanks for standing up for him along with the others.

Need to make printouts and hand it over to the newly established RSS shakhas coming up all over town with kids who only know Narendra Modi but not the founding ideology borrowed from Italy. – Pradeesh R

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This was the least credible and among the more amusing rants I have ever seen. Shame on you for hiring such imbeciles .Even a simple Google search can debunk your one-sided approach. This article might just make me vote for the BJP/RSS in the future because of the desperation with which you pseudo-intellectuals are trying to discredit them. – Abishek Wakhle

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That Rohith Vemula and other students of Ambedkar Students’ Association protested the hanging of Yakub Memon is a disturbing matter (“’Prejudice has extracted a terrible price’: 131 academics express concern at Hyderabad suicide”). These liberals remain perturbed when terrorists kill thousands of innocents, but protest against the hanging of a terrorist on a court order.

This is not caste discrimination by ABVP but a protest against defending the terrorist. Scholars all over the world were very quick to climb the bandwagon of liberals without going into the details of the matter. – DK Sharma

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As an individual and an Indian, I feel very sorry for the loss of a young student, irrespective of his caste or religion. He was misguided and later frustrated with the action of the university and resorted to suicide, causing grief to his parents. I hope everyone views his death and responds as an Indian, not as Dalits, Muslims or members of other communities. – Nageswara Rao Tammana

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This central government is trying to impose its ideology and agenda in higher education by targeting the universities and institutions in which student bodies and associations are active and strong (“Read the letters HRD ministry sent Hyderabad University about ‘anti-national’ activities on campus”).

Starting from Chennai to Jawaharlal Nehru University and now Hyderabad, the BJP - through its student wing and human resource development minister - wants to paint other independent-thinking student groups and students as anti-nationals to control these institutions. All these instances are not isolated but are designed to take control of education to promote the ideology of Hindutva. – Vishal Jindal

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There is nothing objectionable about the HRD ministry’s letters. It had asked for details and comments. Why should Mayank Jain cast avoidable aspersions on a normal routine communication from the ministry? Please do not politicise the unfortunate demise of the student. – JR Krishnan

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The HRD ministry has done nothing wrong by asking universities to reply or act upon the allegations made against it. This kind of action should be initiated upon the complaints of common people as well. Those opposing such prompt actions from the government are those who are used to inactive previous regimes. And as far as this particular case goes, nowhere it can be seen that the government is putting any undue pressure. Pressure is applied through informal routes. – Naveen Dubey

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This letter is in protest (“How Hyderabad’s Ambedkar Students’ Association grew to establish a national footprint”). Such lopsided views are neither expected nor appreciated from Scroll.in. Instead of stating the facts, it appears that this article is more interested in passing a judgement on all the incidents related to the sad demise of Rohith Vemula. It is expected of the writer to give a neutral view irrespective of his/her ideological leanings. This article clearly fails to do so.

However, since you have started this one-sided discussion, let me ask you why the ABVP leader was forced to apologise over a Facebook post. I hope the Sherlock Holmes in the esteemed writer of this article would care to elaborate. Last I checked, freedom of expression was still a citizen’s fundamental right. I hope to find a fairly elaborate article stating the other side of the story for “until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter”. The sad truth is that the lion knows how to write, but the pen and paper belong to the hunter. – Sincere reader

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Rohith Vemula “did not mention...”, Vemula “failed to mention...”. That is the bogus premise of Apoorvanand’s article lamenting the death of Rohith Vemula (“Rohith Vemula wanted to reach for the stars, but his bid to break barriers killed him”).

I am sorry about Vemula’s death, but Apoorvanand writes as if Vemula had especially contracted him to let the world know the things that he would “fail to mention” in his suicide note.

“India’s universities no longer offer nesting places for young dreamers like Vemula,” Apoorvanand pompously writes. He does not say anything about the times – before his “no longer” took effect – when India’s universities did offer nesting places for young dreamers like Vemula.

A more fundamental question: what makes Apoorvanand believe that it’s the “universities” to which Vemula actually related all his “dreams” - it’s the “universities” that are at the heart of the problem that Apoorvanand imagines.

Apoorvanand also does not explain what he meant by “universities” becoming “the nesting places for young dreamers.”

The article seems like a classic example of woolly thinking. But it’s not. It’s actually a classic example of petty-minded ‘political’ point-scoring over a death that completely discredits those who indulge in it. – Kapil Bajaj

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Amidst this grief, there is a glimmer of hope (“At Hyderabad University 20 years ago, memories of another tragedy that divided the campus”). Should we not allow the predicament of Rohith Vemula to spur us into action that leads to justice?

I think it is time that students from all over the nation took steps together to alleviate the situation of campus politics that harm students. In the past 15 years we have, as a nation, experienced the power of standing together for common causes.

It is time to crush caste-based and pro-Brahmin treatment of students. This has gone on for long enough and has taken a heavy toll on the lives of young people who are interested in nothing but an education. This disease is rampant all over the country and is the reason for India’s low achievements in all fields of study. – Petra Zoe