The Slow Genocide of Dalit Minds

The Slow Genocide of Dalit Minds | The Wire 1 of 6 http://thewire.in/2016/01/21/the-slow-genocide-of-dalit-minds-19810/#print E D U CATI ON BY SU M E E T M H ASKAR O N 2 1/ 0 1/ 2 0 16 • 8 CO M M E N TS The death of Rohith Vem ula, a Dalit student pursuing a PhD at the Hyderabad Central University, is yet another instance of the slow genocide of Dalit m inds that has been taking place in the institutions of higher education in India. Dalits m inds are under assault by forces that can best be described as ‘Brahm anical’. Rohith ended his life by com m itting suicide after experiencing severe m ental pressure, which was the result of the intervention by the university adm inistration, the hum an resource developm ent (HRD) m inistry, and a m em ber of parliam ent – all of whom were acting on the behalf of ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya J anata Party. Rohith’s suicide is a rem inder to society of how the deep-rooted structures of caste continue to affect the life of Dalit students in institutions of higher education in India. It is im portant to rem em ber that this suicide is not an isolated incident. In Hyderabad Central University itself, about eight Dalit students have com m itted suicide in the last ten years. There have also been incidents of Dalit students com m itting suicide in India’s elite institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences because of caste discrim ination by faculty m em bers, adm inistration as well as fellow students. This has been very well 1/29/2016 10:13 AM The Slow Genocide of Dalit Minds | The Wire 2 of 6 http://thewire.in/2016/01/21/the-slow-genocide-of-dalit-minds-19810/#print docum ented. Rohith’s suicide note inform s us of the kind of traum a Dalit students experience across Indian universities and research institutes. He was denied his fellowship for seven m onths in a row. The delay in the paym ent of scholarship funds to Dalit students is the norm and not an exception. Most Dalit students entering institutes of higher education com e from econom ically weaker sections. Any delay in paym ent forces them to rely on friends if they are in a position to offer help. In Rohith’s case, he had acquired a debt of 40 ,0 0 0 rupees as m entioned in his suicide note. Financial pressures due to delays in scholarship paym ent have a serious negative effect on the education of Dalit students and other poorer students too. In m any cases faculty m em bers who are supervising Dalit students also contribute to the delay in getting Dalit students their scholarship m oney. This is also the case in institutions like J awaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University. Institutions of higher education are supposed to be spaces for the cultivation of critical m inds. However, faculty m em bers plagued by caste prejudice not only often fail to im part knowledge to Dalit students but also som etim es engage in everyday discrim ination which further contributes to their em otional problem s. It is precisely for this reason that Rohith wrote in his suicide note that there is a growing gap between his soul and his body. Across the country, Dalit students undergo sim ilar experiences, and this has been the case for a long tim e. Faculty m em bers, university adm inistrators as well as fellow students contribute to isolation, depression and frustration am ong them . The ideology of Brahm anism is very m uch present in our educational institutions and m ust be opposed. Rohith’s death has sparked off m assive political agitation by students across country. It is also quite heartening to see that the global academ ic com m unity has stood in solidarity with the Dalit 1/29/2016 10:13 AM The Slow Genocide of Dalit Minds | The Wire http://thewire.in/2016/01/21/the-slow-genocide-of-dalit-minds-19810/#print students whose plight this tragic incident has highlighted. However, som e people are trying to fram e the incident as being m erely the result of right-wing politics led by the BJ P and RSS. There is absolutely no disagreem ent that in this incident, the current BJ P-led governm ent played an im portant role in pressuring Rohith to the extent that he decided to end his life. For this reason, it is im portant to condem n and criticise the ruling BJ P governm ent. However, lim iting the blam e for this incident to the BJ P or RSS will result in treating Rohith’s suicide as an exceptional incident. Only when we accept the fact that the slow genocide of Dalit m inds has been taking place across the country for decades will we be able to confront the problem squarely. The genocide of m inds goes on, no m atter who is in power. For this reason we urgently require robust institutional m echanism s to deal with the problem s of caste discrim ination faced by Dalit students. For instance, the financial security of Dalit students could be brought under the purview of the SC/ ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in som e way in order to stop the harassm ent inflicted by university adm inistrations and faculty m em bers. Secondly, Dalit students feel the need to organise in separate political fora because m ainstream political outfits never address their issues. Those currently standing in solidarity with Rohith m ust rem em ber his last words and not reduce the problem s of the Dalit students m erely ‘to a vote, to a num ber’ and ‘to a thing.’ They m ust work towards developing proper institutional m echanism s which will address their problem s. This will be a fitting, and necessary, tribute to Rohith. Sum eet Mhaskar is Alexander von Hum boldt Research Fellow , University of Göttingen