Anti-Dalit profs being rewarded: Activist

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 23

Renowned human rights activist and former professor of political science at Hyderabad Central University (HCU) Professor Hargopal today alleged that “at least four top anti-Dalit professors of HCU were today serving as vice-chancellors of four central universities of the country.”

“The professors whom I am referring to would always take positions against Dalits even during minor agitations on the campus. Today, they are serving as VCs...this fact is sufficient to make out what kind of people the Union Government is choosing to run the central universities,” he claimed.

Prof Hargopal, who has acted as an interlocutor between Maoists and various state governments during several hostage situations, was here as keynote speaker in a seminar “Caste question: Educational institutions and beyond” organised by NGO Lokayat and Students for Society.

He said the caste structure similar to what existed in villages was being reproduced in the universities where even most the faculties were divided on caste lines. “In such a scenario, how can we expect the university to act as the harbinger of positive change,” he questioned.

Prof Hargopal said it sounded like a joke when the Hyderabad police claimed that they couldn’t book anybody for abetting Rohit Vemula to commit suicide as he had held “nobody responsible” in his suicide note.