 "Rohith Vemula, Hyderabad University")
Last week a friend asked me whether I could recall any incident of some of us interacting with a fellow Dalit student during our hostel days. I could recall none. Even he was unable to recall any such instance. We went to the same college in the Delhi University and stayed in the same hostel for nearly four years. It is very unlikely that our college or hostel had no representation from the Dalit community. It is sad but true that they were never noticed by others.
When I read the suicide note, published by the Indian Express, of the research scholar of the Hyderabad Central University, I could grasp the full import of what I had discussed with my friend only a few days ago. The suicide note of Rohith Chakravarthi Vemula, the Dalit scholar, reads: “My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.” Is he referring to the loneliness faced in the campus life?
What I observed more than two decades ago during our college days may still be true. Dalit students are rarely accepted as part of the mainstream in colleges across the country. They are ignored, looked down upon and sometimes ridiculed. But never accepted as one of our own. But Dalit students brave all this with full courage because of the backing of constitutional provisions enforced by the state. That is the only support system they have. Once there is a perception of that the lone support system too has broken down, there is utter helplessness.
That is precisely what happened in the case of Rohith. The Indian Express report reveals that “Rohith was steadily isolated by campus authorities and his appeals — many of them anguished and sometimes cloaked in irony — went largely unheard.” It is immaterial that he took part in political activities. That he and some like-minded students clashed with powerful student leaders and reportedly suffered further isolation as a result of that added to his woes.
The fact that campus authorities, the state and provider of constitutional provisions in Rohith’s case, allegedly ignored his pleas perhaps added to his “childhood loneliness”. That is perhaps the reason, the sense of extreme helplessness, that drove him to allegedly take his own life.
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Rohith writes: “I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this.” It clearly shows a sense of extreme helplessness.
There will be a fact finding committee. Some political protests. And rightly so. But even bigger question is how to ensure that Dalit students do not face social isolation in schools and colleges or in life beyond campuses. Constitutional provisions are alright. They should stay and there should be total compliance of that. But what about sensitizing the masses? Isn’t it equally important?
We have sadly lost one life. We must ensure that other precious lives are not lost like this.
