Telangana chapter of national students organization, Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) of India met Deputy Chief Minister Mohamood Ali seeking his intervention in release of University of Hyderabad students and professors arrested. Below is the letter submitted to the Dy CM.
Respected Sir,
Campuses are the flourishing places for the democracy and freedom of expression. Alive campuses are those who allow their students to learn, write and practice democracy and apply its values in their studies and activism. SIO stands for the democratic campuses in our country and strongly opposes to any kind of attempts made either by the government or others to destabilise the environment of democracy and freedom of expression.
The recent incidents of JNU and HCU and FTII are very disturbing and raises the serious questions about the intentions of the government at power in centre. What has been seriously observed that there is an ongoing attempt to destabilise the democratic culture of the campuses and to snatch away the freedom of expression by curbing and stopping the voices of differences, oppositions and dissents. Its very ugly and intellectually low to see that whoever speaks anything against the ruling ideology or trends is immediately branded anti-national and traitor of the country. SIO believes that mature, strong and largest democracy of the world should be allowing debates, dissents and open thinking. Curbing the freedom of expression and denial of rights to protest, agitate and express the anguish against the bad policies of the government in peaceful manners will be tantamount to endangering the rich democracy India has nurtured for past 60 years.
The recent disturbance and utter chaos created in HCU is very dangerous. SIO holds VC Appa Rao as the responsible person for all these mess created. SIO also questions the police actions against the peacefully protesting students. How shameful it is to see that students seeking justice for their friend Rohith Vemula’s death are lathicharged, mercilessly dragged, beaten, kicked, girl students sexually harassed, food and water being denied and being arrested for no crime but for executing their fundamental rights to protest and seeking justice.
SIO condemns these all anti-student actions by the police and the university administration. Students have been given very ugly treatment inside their own campus.
Below are the demands of SIO from the Central Government, State Government and the administration of the HCU:
- VC Appa Rao must step down on moral grounds. Its completely unacceptable that the person responsible for the death of a dalit scholar Rohith Vemula continue his duties as the VC of the university.
- Rohith Vemula should be given complete justice by sacking the responsible VC and other anti-dalit officers of the university.
- State and Central government must pass Rohith Act to stop the institutional biases and discriminations agianst the students belonging to dalit and minority communities.
- Government must make students belonging to dalit and minority communities as the stakeholders of the Rohith Act and national level consultations must be made in the process of enacting this law.
- Ministry of HRD must take the cognisance of all previous suicides by the dalit and minority students in the different campuses and should make the report public so that everyone knows about the discriminations being met to those students.
- The arrest of the students from the campus is highly condemnable. They must be released immediately and unconditionally.
- Officers responsible for cutting off food, water and internet to the students must be brought to justice.