Perspective

Red Sun in the Blue Sky:

Rohith Vemulas Utopian
Republic

Social Change
46(3) 451457
CSD 2016
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0049085716654819
http://sch.sagepub.com

N. Sukumar1
Abstract
Rohit Vemulas institutional murder triggered a national debate on the constitutional values, that is, Equality, Justice and Freedom, enshrined in the Ambedkarite
Constitution. After their suspension from the university spacesclassroom,
hostel, campus lifeRohith and his friends walked out of the hostel, clutching
their meagre possessions, a mattress, some books and a huge portrait of
Ambedkar clearly demonstrating their source of strength and confidence to fight
the casteist and communal mindsets. The message was loud and clear. It was
a call for arms to all Ambedkarites to rebel and rally against an undemocratic
social system. However, for Rohith, it was not simply a battle against entrenched
privileges but also an opportunity to fashion an alternative universe, as he very
poignantly expressed The Red Sun in the Blue Sky. This perspective is an
attempt to unravel Rohiths dreams and aspirations which have found echoes
across university campuses.
Keywords
Discrimination, university, Rohith Vemula, higher education
Today saffron blankets are spread out on our conscience and we are doomed to believe
that light is impossible. But truth will come out like a shining red sun in the blue sky
and on that day, at that moment the saffron darkness will have to die.
Rohith Vemula, Facebook Post, 11 September 2015 (Revocation of Suspension).

The University of Hyderabad is no stranger to student unrest and attempts to

silence dissent. However, the past few months have proved extremely chaotic
for the institution. An ideological tussle between two student groups the Akhil
Bharati Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Ambedkar Students Association
(ASA) was allowed to fester: the situation precipitated because of interventions
1

Faculty of Social Sciences, Delhi University, New Delhi.

Corresponding author:
N. Sukumar, Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Delhi, New Delhi
110007.
E-mail: skn70@yahoo.com

Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

452

Social Change 46(3)

by the BJP and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Subsequently, five dalit students were suspended and the university administration kowtowed before the powers that be.
A telling photograph, dated 4 January 2016 captures the angst of the suspended
students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH). Rohith and his friends are walking
out of the hostel, clutching their meagre possessions, a mattress, some books and
a huge portrait of Ambedkar clearly demonstrating their source of strength
and confidence to fight oppressive social structures. The message was loud and
clear. It was a call for arms to all Ambedkarites to rebel and rally against an
undemocratic university administration. These students were not going to simply
fade away into the sunset but fight back against the perceived injustice meted
out to them.
To all my friends, Ambedkarites and comrades, I am happy to say that I got suspended
for a semester by UoH because I am vocal against ABVP and RSS-backed systems.
I am happier to say that I am not terrified or paralysed. If you have time, please come
and join us to support our resistance at the administration building at 7.30 am (Rohith,
FB Post, 9 September 2015)

Fighting Lonely Battles

However, despite his valiant words, Rohith and his friends were fighting a lonely
battle against a Brahmanical university system and its ideological network. These
students were the first to be educated people in their families and they realised
only too well that a life bereft of education was doomed. Ironically, away from
their villages, they were forced to live in a Velivaada (in rural areas, this term is
the space kept for people who have been excommunicated: forced to stay in a kind
of exile, they are denied any kind of social, political and economic contacts). It is
precisely to escape the rigours of such caste-based oppression in villages that
these students and their families laboured hard to aspire for a dignified existence.
For them, education was the sole instrument which would emancipate them
by challenging entrenched prejudices.
17 January 2016 was like any other day in the campus of Hyderabad Central
University. The sight of five students sheltering in the tentVelivaadaon the
sprawling campus evoked tepid responses. A few well wishers among students
and teachers extended their support and espoused their cause. But by the evening
of the same day all hell had broken loose. One amongst the five, Rohith Vemula,
committed suicide, leaving behind a very poignantly worded note. Ironically,
Rohith had been so ostracised by the university system that he was desperately
looking for space to end his life. This why he apologised to his friend in his final
note for using his hostel room to put an end to his mortal existence. He even wrote
to the highest university authority, the Vice-Chancellor: his letter clearly revealed
his deep anguish against a system which reduced him to simply a vote, a number,
a statistic. All his outpourings of anger and grief were stonewalled in the past and
the only response he received, once again, was silence.
Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

Sukumar 453

Earlier Tragedies
Prior to Rohiths tragic end, nine students killed themselves over the last 10 years
students at the UoH. Significantly, they all belonged to the dalit community except
for one who was a tribal. It was in 2008, when Senthil Kumar, a doctoral student
in physics, committed suicide. Till date, his parents are still clueless about the
circumstances surrounding their sons death. Pulayela Raju also killed himself
and his death was attributed officially to a failed love affair. Madari Venkatesh, a
science student, struggled for two years academically. He was yet to begin his
research as he had not been allotted a supervisor. He was upset, even his juniors
had progressed with their research and he was yet to start. Finally, he was given a
supervisor who asked him to change his research topic as he was not familiar with
the particular area that Venkatesh was interested in. His entire academic work of
two years, fellowship, job prospects counted for nothing. How does one explain
his suicide when he could publish papers in international scientific journals but
the UoH did not consider him meritorious enough to provide him a supervisor?
It was not surprising that he decided to kill himself on 24 November 2013.
These needless tragedies clearly reflect the rigidity of an adamant university
administration, stifling the aspirations and demands from students, especially,
from first-generation learners from marginalised groups. To illustrate this point:
Senthil Kumar was so isolated within the campus, within his hostel, laboratory
and peer group, that took two days before his body was discovered. The extreme
insensitivity of the establishment can be seen from the fact that Senthils parents
were never even given any information or a report of what caused his death:
the University is yet to give back his belongings to his parents. Needless to say,
the question of compensation never arises.
In Rohiths case, his body was not even handed over to his family for last
rites. He was secretly cremated. What was the need for secrecy? His family and
friends were not permitted to pay their final respects; he was treated as an orphan
even in death. Many committees were formed to investigate the case and present
very elaborate reports which are gathering dust somewhere. No one was found
accountable; no guilt was established and life went on.
I used to proudly tell everyone in my village that my son was doing PhD
at Hyderabad University. Today, I have come to collect his dead body Rohiths
mother said on the day after his death. In a Facebook photo album, Rohith had
placed a picture of his mothers sewing machine, acknowledging the labour with
which she had supported the family till he started receiving the junior research
fellowship.
In a way Rohiths tragic end was different from the other suicides. Was it
his eloquent suicide note, which talked of his dreams of reaching the stars? Of
becoming a writer like Carl Sagan? None of the other students who ended their
lives on campus had penned such philosophical thoughts. Ironically, everyone
from politicians to the media made a beeline to the campus. For the first time, the
national press, both print and electronic, covered Rohiths case and a variety of
discourses emerged. A huge effort was made to investigate Rohiths caste origins
so that the guilty could not escape any culpability found under the Atrocities
Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

454

Social Change 46(3)

Act. Caste with a capital C had engaged the nations attention. Here was a dalit
student who was not your stereotypical weak, suppressed and submissive person.
He had an excellent command over the English language; he was politically
active (a staunch member of the ASA); he was assertive and aspired to be a writer
like his hero, Sagan. He had in his short life span, in a way, subverted the social
hierarchy and epitomised Ambedkars dictumEducate, Organise and Agitate.
Traditionally, the domain of knowledge was barred for unclean communities and its terrain protected scrupulously by instilling fear of banishment and
even death. The first salvo was fired by the Ambedkarite constitution, which
mandated affirmative action for social groups which had been historically sidelined especially in the areas of education and employment. The pace of progress
was augmented after the Mandal Commission Report, which enabled more
oppressed groups to reap benefits of reservations. Gradually, the university
campuses began to change with more students from the deprived communities entering their portals. This was a clear challenge to entrenched hierarchies,
especially in educational institutions, who protected knowledge as their
personal fiefdom. Public universities were dominated by upper caste teachers
while a majority of students now began to come from marginal backgrounds. The
skewed power relations drove a wedge between these two sections.

Unfriendly, Suffocating Atmosphere

The Hyderabad Central University, as an institution, was awarded an A grade by
the National Accreditation and Assessment Council, denoting that it was an institution of excellence according to established academic parameters. The MHRD
also had ranked Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University and UoH as countrys top
central universities. Both these recognitions established UoHs academic profile.
But any university, especially a public university, is not a conglomerate of infrastructural facilities alone. The annual report of any university only records the
number of papers it has published, projects it has undertaken, patents it has developed, the number of references in the citation index or how the profile of the
institution has grown. It is the human resources within the university space that
provide a rationale, meaning and significance to an institutions existence. It is the
pedagogy, research, inter-personal relationships and affiliations that all contribute
lead to a vibrant atmosphere. For an average student, there is the thrill of stepping
out of familial bonds, a journey into strange places and cultures. For a dalit
student, the initial step is facilitated through reservations. But the admission is
only the beginning of negotiating of unknown spaces, dealing with unfriendly
supervisors or a potentially uncooperative administration, coping with peer prejudices, ultimately leading to a silent feeling of rejection and perhaps dropping out
of the system or ending in, sometimes, suicides.
Battle lines and fissures revolve around the sharing of public space and availing of social opportunities in campus life. This was amply demonstrated in my
ICSSR-sponsored study1 on, Exclusion and Discrimination in Higher Learning
Institutions in Indiathe Universities of Delhi (DU), Madras (MU), Mumbai and
Hyderabad. In campuses, which have had an animated political voice representDownloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

Sukumar 455
ing the dalit and minority groups, such as the UoH and Mumbai, students were
confident of their caste/regional identityperhaps a fallout of the dalit movement
in their regionsarticulated their grievances and exhibited a social and political vision beyond the campus. In comparison, the MU students were strangely
detached from the vibrant socio-political developments in the city-space and lived
isolated lives. A former student of UoH and an active member of ASA, is now a
faculty of MU. To my shock, he had a portrait of Vivekananda in his room. Some
of the faculty and students in MU observed that conditions were very vulnerable
for dalits as the institution was very castest and patriarchal.
In DU, the dalit and marginalised students lacked an organisation till 2008
creating an ideological vacuum: in DU, it was considered shameful to reveal
ones dalit identity. The situation worsened as caste, region and ideology were
deeply inter-connected, reflected in admissions, faculty recruitments and their
promotions. In DU-affiliated colleges, rosters were not prepared as per the 2006
UGC guidelines. The general perception, both in DU and MU, was that the higher
authorities acted like feudal lords rather than being representatives of democratic
and secular ethos.
Surrounded by such a suffocating unfriendly atmosphere, one could only
imagine the plight of a dalit/tribal or minority student who not only had to
battle entrenched pedagogic bigotry but also intense peer prejudices. In such an
atmosphere, there was bound to exist a sharp polarisation between the sciences
and social sciences/humanities; rural and urban students, on the basis of language,
cultural nuances and social etiquette. In the UoH, the research team observed that
the social sciences disciplines were even branded by a very derogatory term
food courses. A majority of dalit students opted for social sciences as they are
ensured a hostel and regular food. Hailing from first-generation learner families
(like the five rusticated students from the UoH and also the 10 students in 2002),
these students lacked the resources to pay for the hefty fees to private institutions or survive in the cities. The majoritarian culture was reflected in courses like
management, computers, sciences and mathematics.
In MU, a dalit student commented that research guides behaved differently
with dalits and with upper caste students. One professor used to pat the back of
the male students to verify his caste origins by feeling for the sacred thread on
the back. Whenever there were opportunities to participate in different kind of
competitions (debates, seminars, writing essays), faculties would seem to send
upper caste students to represent the department. The argument given was that
the dalit students language was local (cheri basha). In the UoH, a Tamil doctoral student (sciences) was so humiliated by his supervisor and department that
he confided to one of the team members that he was leaving the course.
In all the four campuses, girl students were victims of both caste and gender
oppression. During a field visit, some shared their problems with great reluctance
and after much persuasion. A few would fix a time but avoided talking to the
team. It was in the sciences discipline that these communities are most vulnerable
as the laboratory was a highly contested space and they would silently suffer all
forms of harassment as their supervisors could adversely affect their reputation
and careers.
Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

456

Social Change 46(3)

In such a scenario, an inordinately delayed fellowship or expulsion from

the hostel was a life-threatening crisis for dalit students. They shuddered at the
thought of going back to their villages as their parents had undertaken tremendous
sacrifice so that their children could escape caste prejudices. Such a possibility inevitably resulted in a social death to their families. To silence students and
sanitise campuses, the MHRD and UGC sought to curtail the non-NET (National
Eligibility Test) fellowships, which was a nominal amount paid to research
students. The dystopian world of the university, characterised by an indifferent
administration and callous teachers, compelled many dalit students to question
their own existence; their sense of belonging, of purpose and suicide was the last
resort out of sheer desperation.
Needless to say, Rohiths death, which could be, in fact, described as an institutional murder, a conspiracy engineered by the rightwing communal forces
functioning in the university and the MHRD served as a much-needed wake-up
call. The subsequent developmentsthe institutional violence in JNU and
UoH, the targeting of students and faculty, student leaders being imprisoned,
brutally abused all in the name of nationalism. Students and teachers of the UoH
protesting against the Vice-Chancellor were viciously beaten up and arrested.
The university campus was out of bounds for the media, sympathisers, activists
and families, and students were forced to continue their protests under severe
surveillance: families of the protesting students were warned to caution their
wards against any anti-administration activities. In Kashmir, after the recent
imbroglio at NITthe MHRD immediately sent a team to investigate the police
action against students but in UoH, no such considerations prevailed. Apparently,
the Ministry considered some students more equal than others as the violence
was in the name of the nation rather than an individual suicide against socially
institutionalised prejudices. All these reflect a determined ideological drive by the
ruling party which can so readily order paramilitary troops to the campus to act
against hapless students and teachers.
Such thinking had filtered down to the public at large. I recalled that on a trip
to Kerala, while conversing with a taxi driver in early February, he stated that
Rohith was a terrorist and what happened to him was justified. Such narrative,
prevalent in the public domain, was a replication of the Brahmanical mindset
that has refused to acknowledge any challenge to its dominion. Since the dalit
vote-bank was crucial, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, probably under duress,
made a belated and forced proclamation that Rohith was the son of mother India
but ironically his friends, family and well-wishers were still being hounded like
anti-social elements.
Rohiths death was not an isolated event but it set in motion the ardent desire
for changeto break free from the shackles of all modes of oppression. He
was truly an awakened spirit that moved a collective reaction. As observed by
Ambedkar: Life should be great rather than long. Rohiths emancipatory vision
was not confined solely to dalits but he sought to create an idea of a coalition of
all the oppressed groups, without the domination of any one particular ideology
or social status. His ideological journey through which he sought to understand different hues of ideologies and politics convinced him that its only the
Ambedkarite vision which was truly egalitarian and inclusive. On his 125th birth
Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016

Sukumar 457
anniversary, every political party wants to own Ambedkar. The RSS and its
groups deliberately had misread and misquoted Ambedkar for their own political
gains while the Congress and the Left indulged in empty Ambedkarite tokenisms
to make their presence count in the political landscape. The political developments post-Rohiths institutional murder and the outburst of anger they followed
reflected that the dalit-bahujan movement was very powerful and it needed to be
further supported by progressive, radical, feminist, minority groups to forge an
egalitarian, secular nation.
On a more positive note: It was heartening to witness a panel discussion in
early April held at JNU, Caste in Educational Institutions followed by a debate
which questioned the presence of two pertinent symbols: Lal Salaam and Neel
Salaam as prophesised by Rohith Vemula, was the only way to challenge and
curtail the saffron ideology. For a long time, dalits and other marginalised
groups have been treated as cannon fodder by various political parties. But it is
time for such groups not to take such marginalised groups for granted but involve
them through a sharing of respect, trust and concern and jointly work out strategy
to meet the challenges. Then a day might come when it will be possible to turn
Rohiths dream into a reality and see the Red sun light up our Blue sky.

Note
1. Study Report submitted to ICSSR in March 2016 by N. Sukumar.

Downloaded from sch.sagepub.com at English and Foreign Languages on September 19, 2016