Swamy questions Rahul on taking part in Hyderabad hunger strike

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Saturday questioned Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's participation in a mass hunger strike at the University of Hyderabad campus with students who are protesting against the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

"Why he (Rahul Gandhi) is joining the protest, is he a educationist? Why should he enter into this and complicate the matter? Without an enquiry and getting the truth of it, what is the use of him joining the protest?" Swami asked.

"Here, the issue is very complicated, because we don't know what the suicide note is actually meant for," he added.

Swamy further asked the Congress vice-president as to why he was not going to Verupuram near Chennai where students were reduced to servants which led to their suicide.

"The fact is that Rahul Gandhi is going to this place, but what about the incidents taking place near Chennai and Verupuram. There the students were reduced to servants and denied education and their money were collected and they had to commit suicide. He is not going there," he asked.

Swamy further said that vice chancellor of Hyderabad University might have been changed because the HRD ministry had sent a team and that may have pointed through some lapse.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday joined the mass hunger strike at the Hyderabad University campus to express solidarity with the students protesting against the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who would have turned 27 today.

The Hyderabad Central University (HCU) changed its interim vice-chancellor late Friday night, as Dr Vipin Srivastava went on leave just hours before Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi reached the university.

Interim VC Vipin Srivastava went on a leave for four days and in his absence, M Periasamy, the next senior-most professor, will take charge.