Rohith Vemula Act A Necessity: Rahul Gandhi On Dalit Scholar's 10th Death Anniversary

On the 10th death anniversary of Dalit student Rohith Vemula, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a tweet, wrote about how the reality of discrimination has hardly changed on campuses and stressed the need for a law criminalising the same.

"Rohit wanted to study and write. He wanted to improve this country by understanding science, society, and humanity. But this system did not approve of a Dalit's progress. Institutionalised racism, social exclusion, daily humiliation, “status-showing” language and dehumanising treatment – ​​this was the poison that pushed a promising young man to a point where he was stripped of his dignity and left isolated," Gandhi posted on X.

Noting how caste is still India's 'biggest admission form', he wrote the magnitude of discrimination in all forms still existing in educational institutions must call for the Rohith Vemula Act. The Act will criminalize caste discrimination in educational institutions, ensure strict action perpetrators and put an end to exclusion of students based on their caste, Gandhi added.

Calling for Dalit students to raise their voices and call for the urgent implementation of the anti-discrimination law, Gandhi adds that the Congress governments in Karnataka and Telangana are in the process of implementing the law.
The death of the 26-year-old Dalit student on January 17, 2016, had triggered a nationwide agitation against casteism in institutions of higher learning. Gandhi had joined the student protests over Vemula's suicide.