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.
Other union ministers like Venkaiah Naidu and Smriti Irani have also alluded to it by harping that the controversy around the suicide is not a 'Dalit vs non-dalit' issue. A newspaper report last month in fact claimed that the Intelligence Bureau had reported to the National Security Adviser that the deceased was not a Dalit.
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But while the insensitivity of the ministers has baffled people at large (because it is not his caste identity that is being contested but the omissions and commissions of the university prompted by union ministers) both social activists and lawyers seem surprised at their ignorance of the law, which is settled.
On 18 January 2012, a two-judge bench in the Supreme Court comprising Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai in a case of the Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika vs State of Gujarat & Ors, had to decide on "what would be the status of a person, one of whose parents belongs to the scheduled castes/scheduled tribes and the other comes from the upper castes". Rohith Vemula's case can take a cue from the judgement.
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The judgement said that in an inter-caste marriage, the determination of the caste of the offspring is essentially a "question of the fact to be decided on the basis of the facts adduced in each case" and that it is "open to the child to lead evidence to show that the child was brought up by the mother who belonged to the SC/ST. By virtue of being the son of a forward caste father he did not have any advantageous start in life but on the contrary suffered the deprivations, indignities, humilities and handicaps like any other member of the community to which his/her mother belonged. Additionally that he was always treated a member of the community to which her mother belonged not only by that community but by people outside the community as well."
Rohith had a dual caste background at birth which got disconnected after one-and -half years. Dalit activist Kancha Ilaiah believes that Rohith was not only accepted by the Dalit community in his childhood but in college as well as in death. "In his suicide note, he wrote at the end, Jai Bheem which is so typical of a Dalit and proves the total ownership of the child's background."
Rohith's father apparently did not come to see his dead body. Ilaiah says that Rohith's final disconnect was on January 17 when the father "did not even care" to come to see the dead body. "Why Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani who even after being mothers themselves, are misleading the nation and deceiving mothers of India. It is most unfortunate".
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Many scholars feel there are two issues involved in this case. First, the caste status is being politicised so as to escape the punitive measures of the Atrocities Act. Academicians like Delhi University's Prof N. Sukumar feels that the increasing inter-caste marriages are challenging brahmanical patriarchy. "Such laws work to protect the interests of women when society humiliates and disowns them. It's a disgrace that ministers are ignorant of the law."
Do political parties see those who believe in Ambedkar's ideology as a threat? Academicians like YS Alone from JNU, believe so. "Mere appropriation of Ambedkar's ideology makes no sense. Ultimately political parties are judged by the ideology they follow. Caste in India is a psychotic perversion and what is happening now is a manifestation of the same perversion."
