At least three union ministers have gone on record to claim that Rohith Vemula, the research scholar at Hyderabad Central University who committed suicide, was not a Dalit. They include not only the social justice and empowerment minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, a Dalit himself, and the minister for tribal welfare Jual Oram, an adivasi, but also the Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj.