BJP will transform India into Hindu Rashtra: Thol Thirumavalavan

Hyderabad: Tamil Nadu MP Dr. Thol Thirumavalavan said if BJP comes to power for a third time, they will replace the Constitution with Manusmrithi and transform India into a Hindu Rashtra.

He was speaking at the Rohith Shahadat Din organized by the Ambedkar Students Association, Hyderabad Central University (ASA-HCU). The function was held to commemorate the sixth death anniversary of Rohith Vemula.

"The BJP is trying to organize the Hindus to retain the power and demolish social justice enshrined in the Indian Constitution. They want to throw away the Amdedkar's Constitution, make India a Hindu Rashtra, and maintain the social order of Hindu society," said Dr. Thirumavalavan.

He further went on to explain how the BJP and Sangh Parivar was trying to organize people belonging to small, fringe caste groups by using the Hindu sentiments. He also mentioned how the people belonging to the Varnas- Vaishyas, Shudras, and Kshatriyas are also getting attracted to the Hindu identity and are refusing to fight Brahmanism.

"Our fight is against dominance, exploitation, suppression, and oppression," Dr. Thirumavalavan added.

Addressing the gathering, Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika said, "It's not just for Vemula, but it's the struggle of all Dalit Bahujan students in higher educational institutions."

She also urged people to start tuitions for students belonging to marginalized communities in their villages.

Telangana advocate Jai Bhim Rao, who fought Rohith Vemula's case, expressed hope that the hearing of the case will commence on February 4, 2022.

Writer and Political Critic Jilukara Srinivas termed the caste discrimination in higher educational institutions as 'Hindutva Terrorism.' He further said that colleges and universities were becoming Brahminical agraharas.

"Rohith is a memory that will stand as strength of resistance against institutional hierarchies," said K Suneetha Rani, Head of Department of Women and Gender Studies, University of Hyderabad (UoH).

Rohith Vemula, a 26-year-old Dalit Ph.D. student, took his own life on the campus of the University of Hyderabad in 2016 due to caste discrimination.

The university stopped paying Rohith and four of his friends' monthly stipend alleging that they were raising issues on campus under the banner of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). They were later suspended. In his suicide note, he wrote, "My birth is my fatal accident."