“Rohith Was A Dalit; IB Report Manipulated”

PL Punia, the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, tells Bula Devi that the BJP believes in tokenism for Dalits and the IB report on Rohith Vemula (which stated that he was not a Dalit) is manipulated to suit the government.

Do you think the BJP consciously made a concerted effort to term Rohith Vemula a non-Dalit?

It was initially Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot who said Rohith Vemula was not a Dalit followed by other cabinet ministers like Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj and so on. In fact, Human Resource Development minister Smriti Irani said she was compelled to state that the head of the committee set up by the executive council, which recommended suspension of the students, was a Dalit which is incorrect. So the BJP often tries to belittle the gravity of the entire episode.

The amount of hard work the BJP is putting is enormous. They are into a damage control exercise. It is like carpet bombing. When you put so many people to defend yourself, it is clear that they have a political issue. Their eyes are on the 2019 general elections and the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal (2016), Uttar Pradesh (2017) and so on. It is no longer confined to Telangana but the entire country and Dalits are agitated over this.

The BJP is not worried about the plight of the Dalit community but believes only in tokenism. The BJP feels that it has done a great job by commemorating the 125th birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and wants to send out a message to the dalit community they are well wishers of the community. But this incident proves they are not. It is amazing that while leaders of most political parties visited the campus, BJP leaders did not dare to visit the university. HRD minister should have been the first one to visit the campus. It is her baby.

Is it possible that the ‘damage control exercise’ is to protect the minister and others from the stringent punishment under the Scheduled Caste and Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act?

It is possible, after all the FIR mentions Section 306 of the IPC and the Prevention of atrocities Act. Maybe it is to protect the minister and the Vice Chancellor, who is the BJP’s favourite. I told the police commissioner of Hyderabad that it was very objectionable that the police sent a team to Guntur. They should have followed the procedure which is, after going through the statement of the complainant and the witnesses, the police should have processed the case.

The IB report, reportedly sent to the NSA, states that Rohith was not a Dalit and the grandmother also reportedly stated that Rohith’s father and mother belonged to backward class, Vaddera?

The IB report is a manipulated report to suit the government. As far as the grandmother is concerned, if she said something like this it is not surprising because the father deserted the family; they (paternal side) are not well wishers of Rohith and his family and will try to damage them.

What does the law say?

It is simple -- if a father deserts the family the children can adopt the mother’s caste. This is a case of a single mother family and the mother brought them up to this level by doing some tailoring work in the village. She belongs to the Scheduled Caste community of Mala. The mother’s caste is relevant in this case. Rohith, his mother as well as brother hold SC certificate and the certificate was issued after due enquiry. There is no complaint against these certificates and the certificates have not been cancelled.

Did the Commission hold a suo moto enquiry?

We have taken suo moto cognizance of the case. In this case, the incident happened on January 17 and I visited the place the next day. On January 20, I asked for action taken report from the Chief Secretary of Telangana, the police of Hyderabad and the Vice Chancellor, and asked them to file the report within 10 days. Since the V-C’s office was locked, he did not get the fax in time. Now that his office has been unlocked, they all will be visiting the Commission on February 8.