'DEADLY' POLITICS

'Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone' he wrote, anticipating the politics that would be played after he breathed his last.
Why, no one understands a last wish. No one respects an opinion of a soul that is no more present. What they do care about however, is how they can take advantage of the dead man to meet their own selfish needs.
Thus is the story of Rohith Vemula, the 25 year old research scholar from University Of Hyderabad, who was expelled from the university for  unproven reasons, which has been by far considered to be 'atrocities against the Dalit scholar.'

Rohith wanted to be a science writer, like Carl Sagan and ended up with only one noted work- his suicide note. He expected the least, that this note would become so famous that every celebrity and every middle class man, every dalit and every non-dalit would get hands on it and have their say. And here I am, just like those millions of other people, writing this article to put forward my own opinion on it. Everybody, of course, has their freedom of speech.

You know what's wrong with people in this world? They rush into conclusions before studying to find the truth. That is exactly what has happened this week so far. I remember the day when newspapers and social media were flooded with the news of the demise of Rohith Vemula, and every news article read 'Dalit Scholar of HCU Commits Suicide' or 'Dalit Scholar A Victim of Casteism'
I understand that this country has had its share of problems with casteism and even after 69 years of independence, there have been a number of cases acting against the backward castes. However, a crime is a crime and to highlight the word 'dalit' just to get attention is not something I support. The moment the world found out this lad was dead, opposition members stormed  into the site to protest against the so-called atrocities happening against Dalits, obviously for their own interests. This has happened earlier too with the same people giving support to crimes against every minority community but have not once attended funerals of martyred soldiers (obviously they found no advantage in doing that). The people who raised these issues were termed bhakts and nationalists by the media and so maybe, I am one too.

No, I do not support the decision made by UoH or Ministry of HRD to expel the five students, including Rohith, from the hostel. Nor am I supportive of the fact that our Prime Minister was silent about this issue for quite a while. A proper probe must be done in order to find the reasons behind the expulsion and if found wrong, must be punished accordingly. Rohith's family must be given the money they are overdue and matters must be settled peacefully. All persons/organizations leading to his death must be termed guilty. However, the conclusion of matters without verifying the facts is something that I find, very incorrect.
Rohith Vemula, as per the suicide letter, was definitely tired of the gap between the soul and physical body (here he means science and politics) and that he was extremely pained by the tragedy politics has played throughout his life. Do we still want to give him that pain, even after his death? The dead man cannot speak, but can definitely see. Leave him alone people, let him rest in peace.

And coming to casteism, there is a little point I want to make, without any offence to any caste, creed or religion. This whole caste system is the result of an evil society that existed in our country centuries ago, but still prevails in our modern India inspite of several attempts to strike it off. But one must remember, while there are dalits who are committing suicide because of ill treatment, there are higher caste (poor) students who commit suicide because they are unable to pay towards their education. Both are almost equal in number. If attention is given to one, it must be given to the other. If solution is provided for one, the solution must be provided for the other too. Equality must be in respect of either party, not just one.

In the light of the Rohith Vemula issue, I want to expose the polarization of the media towards one party, with the screen shots I have posted of news articles from The Indian Express and The Hindu. These writers, have completely one-sided opinions, just like writers from other news publishing media. They are against the portrayal of Muslims as terrorists or Dalits as extremists and anti-nationalists (which, to clarify, I am too), but will not give a thought about calling the BJP or other 'so-called  bhakts' as saffron terrorists and Hindutva nationalists.