Enact Rohith Vemula Act to end caste-based discrimination, Rahul Gandhi urges Karnataka CM
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to enact the Rohith Vemula Act in the state to tackle caste-based discrimination and protect the right to education of Dalits and other marginalised communities.
“It is a shame that even today, millions of students from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC [Other Backward Classes] communities have to face such brutal discrimination in our educational system,” Gandhi said in a letter to Siddaramaiah.
Vemula, a PhD scholar at Hyderabad Central University, died by suicide in January 2016. In his suicide note, he had alleged caste-based discrimination and harassment by the university.
He and four others had been suspended on the complaint of a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
In 2023, the Congress passed a resolution stating that it would enact a special Act named after Vemula to protect and safeguard the right to education and dignity of Dalits, tribal communities, Other Backward Classes and religious minorities if the party was voted to power in Karnataka.