Concerted effort to stifle dissent: Prakash Ambedkar

Former MP and BBM leader Prakash Ambedkar on Monday said there was a concerted effort by the BJP-RSS regime to influence students on established campuses and to curb any voice of dissent. He also condemned the police action against the students of the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) last week. Mr Ambedkar was speaking at the announcement of a one-day convention being organised on April 2 by the ‘Justice for Vemula: Joint Action Committee’ which will see prominent speakers and representatives of various universities participate in the convention. Meanwhile, the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has organised a programme at the Kalina campus of the University of Mumbai on Tuesday wherein Lalit Pandey, ABVP secretary, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) will present facts about the incidents at the university titled ‘JNU ka sach’.

“I see a nexus where established universities or well-known colleges are being targeted by the RSS-BJP regime that is imposing its ideology and curbing any dissenting voice with force. The convention is to encourage constructive discussion,” said Mr Ambedkar. On April 2, he will be sharing the dais 2 with tribal activist Soni Sori, author Arundhati Roy, activist Teesta Setalvad and journalist Subhash Gatade.

The convention has been named, ‘Rohith Vemula’s Murder and Questions thereafter: Through people’s resistance... towards Azadi: Convention of People’s Resistance’. Apart from the above speakers, student representatives from various universities will speak on their experiences and resistance they faced while protesting the death of Vemula. Student associations from HCU, students of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle of IIT Madras, Banaras Hindu University, Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association of the Jawaharlal Nehru University and FTII in Pune will participate in the convention.

Meanwhile, members of the JAC, who were putting up convention posters in Matunga, alleged that they were roughed up by ABVP activists, which the city unit of the student union refuted.