Dalit scholar issue: Student on fast shifted to health centre

One of the students on hunger strike over the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula was shifted to university’s health centre after his health deteriorated on Tuesday.

“One of the seven students, who are on an indefinite hunger strike, was admitted to university’s health centre following the deterioration of his health,” said Ravindra Kumar, chief medical officer. 

He added: “He was semi-unconscious in the afternoon. His condition is stable now.”

The second batch of seven students started an indefinite hunger strike on Sunday, after the first batch was forcibly taken away and admitted to a hospital on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) on Tuesday handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to Rohith’s mother Radhika. 

“The (Central) government is handling the issue of appointment of interim Vice Chancellor (VC) in an irresponsible way. They should remove the VC immediately and appoint another person. We demand that both the central ministers (HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya) be sacked,” said TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Meanwhile, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’) rivals were trying to gain political mileage out of the tragedy instead of addressing the core issue. “When an unfortunate incident happens, instead of condemning it, going into its roots as to why this unfortunate incident happened, why a youth lost his life, how the discrimination is to be eliminated, what are the changes to be made, what changes are to be brought in thinking, what changes are to be brought into the system, making it into a political pilgrimage and making it a tool of vote bank politics (is condemnable), the world is looking at this amazed,” he said.