 "Students protest the death of Rohith Vemula")
Some Dalit leaders in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today demanded a judicial or a Central Bureau of Investigation enquiry into the suicide of Hyderabad Central University student Rohith Vemula, but its senior leadership tried to diffuse the controversy by insisting it wasn't a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue.
While some Dalit leaders in the BJP were critical of the "insensitive statements" issued by their colleagues and pointed at the lack of representation that Dalits have in party hierarchy (see chart below), Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani slammed "the malicious intent to incite passions and present the suicide as a caste battle." She defended her ministry for having forwarded the letter by Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya to the university, which she said was done in consonance with laid-down procedures, and claimed the issue of Dalit suicides had been raised by a Congress MP during the UPA-2 rule as well.
Irani implored that all concerned should await the report of the ministry's fact-finding team and the completion of police investigation. The minister said Dattatreya himself is a Yadav, while the ABVP student that was beaten up allegedly by Vemula and his associates is also an OBC. Irani didn't let on the government strategy on the issue that has earned it much bad press, but sources said the investigation might bring out the fact that Vemula wasn't a Dalit but from an OBC caste.
BJP General Secretary P Muralidhar Rao said that Vemula suffered from psychological problems, while some other spokespersons insinuated that Vemula wasn't a Dalit at all. BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha chief Dushyant Kumar Gautam defended Rao. He demanded a judicial enquiry into the suicide, but said: "It is intriguing that somebody as strong willed as Vemula, who indulged in anti-social demonstrations, should have committed suicide." Gautam said, indicating at the possibility of foul play. Much hinges on whether Vemula was an OBC or a Dalit as Dattatreya has been booked under the prevention of atrocities against Scheduled Castes Act.
That the party has stressed the OBC identity of Dattatreya and the ABVP leader has its sub-text in northern India's Dalit-OBC politics. Apart from its new found Dalit support during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where the party won nearly half of all seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, the BJP also been trying to reach out to the Other Backward Castes of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in recent years. It has sizeable non-Yadav OBC support base in UP. Late last year, party chief Amit Shah had set up a dedicated OBC morcha for the first time in BJP's history and with an eye on UP assembly polls in 2017. Parties like Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal, which command sizeable OBC support base, have been muted in their criticism of the government on the issue. Today, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded an inquiry.
However, a handful of BJP's Dalit leaders have been critical of statements by Rao and others. These Dalit leaders point to lack of participation of Dalits among BJP's office bearers and in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers as a reason for the failure of the party and government to handle the issue sensitively. There isn't a single Dalit in BJP chief Amit Shah's team of 39 office bearers. But party sources pointed out that the party couldn't find able replacements after officer bearers like Thawarchand Gehlot and Ram Shankar Katheria joined the council of ministers. "The suicide note of Vemula resonates with me. I could empathise with him. It was as if I had suffered all that he did," former BJP SC Morcha chief Sanjay Paswan said.
Paswan along with some Dalit MPs, who didn't want to be identified, have sought the PM's intervention. "Strong steps need to be taken by the party and the government. The PM needs to intervene and reach out to Vemula's family. A CBI inquiry should be ordered," Paswan said.
