Relay Hunger Strike and Protest against Suspension of professors KY Ratnam and Tathagata Sengupta begins today, June 14 at HCU
Prof KY Ratnam being welcomed back after his release from jail, March 2016
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Prof Tathagata Sengupta being welcomed back on his release from jail, March 2002
Professors KY Ratnam and Tathagat Sengupta reacted sharply to the suspended Vice Chancellor Appa Rao’s latest move to suspend both of them from the faculty calling the move as the latest in the succession of atrocities against Dalit students. Speaking to Sabrangindia, he said, ‘Now it is the faculty’s turn. The administration and the government believe that by targeting individuals, individuals the anti-caste struggle that is burgeoning all over India will be suppressed. This has never happened throughout history. It will not happen now,” said Sengupta speaking to Sabrangindia.
Professor KY Ratnam, a widely respected professor of Dalit studies also talking to Sabrangindia, said, “Our suspension is unjust and yet another atrocity in continuance of the ones helped on students that killed Rohith Vemula. From students, the administration is now targeting the faculty.” Both professors, Ratnam and Sengupta will be sitting on a relay hunger fast
Late on Monday evening, June 13, newspapers reported that the University of Hyderabad's executive council suspended senior Dalit professor KY Ratnam and assistant professor Tathagata Sengupta on Monday who have been an active member in the justice for Rohith Vemula movement. A confidential order was issued by the executive council to both the professors.
Officials from the university have reportedly told the media that the decision has been taken as per the Government of India rule. "The government of India rule states that if somebody is in judicial custody for more than 48 hours then they are deemed to be suspended. The vice-chancellor wanted to have the matter discussed in the executive council which was held last Monday. Therefore, today the orders were issued to the professors," Vipin Srivastava, official spokesperson of UoH and pro VC had told the TOI.
He further added that the suspension will be in place until the charges against the professors are not cleared. "The professors have all the right to challenge the decision in the court. However, they will not be allowed to teach in the university until their charges are cleared," added Srivastava. The professors and their legal team are meanwhile all set to challenge the decision in Court.
Just days ago senior Dalit faculty member of the UoH/HCU professor Sreepati Ramudu had resigned from the post of Head of the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in protest against the appointment of Vipin Srivastava as the Pro-Vice Chancellor of University of Hyderabad. The SC-ST Faculty Forum of University of Hyderabad had strongly condemned the varsity’s move of appointing Prof. Vipin Srivastava as the Pro V-C1 of the university the day before.Giving reasons for his resignation, professor Sreepati Ramudu had writen,"I resigned from the headship of Center for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy today against the decision of appointing Prof, Vipin Srivastava as the Pro-Vice Chancellor 1 of the University of Hyderabad. When Pof. Vipin Srivastava was instated as interim Vice-Chancellor earlier, SC/ST Teachers' Forum had opposed the decision because he, Vipin Srivastava , was allegedly responsible for the tragic death of a yet another Dalit research scholar Senthil Kumar in 2008.
Unlike in the case of the ongoing agitation and government-student confrontation at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where the JNUTA (JNU Teachers Association) has stood firmly in solidarity with the students, at HCU/UoH only about 25-30 faculty members have shown solidarity with the movement for autonomy and resistance before and after te institutional murder of Rohith Vemula. Over 150 of the 200 strong faculty have either buried their noses, ostrich like or chosen to side with the administration.
On March 22, an unprecedented and cruel police action against peacefully protesting students had drawn nationwide outrage. The protests took place after suspended VC Appa Rao suddenly was ‘restored’ to his former glory as VC after being suspended following the nationwide outcry after Rohith Venuma’s death, an act of the Modi Regime that signalled utter disregard for the rising outrage on Indian campuses against the rigid authoritarianism represented by the RSS-driven regime.
Ratnam and Sengupta were arrested on charges of vandalism in the March 22 incident on campus where few students who had been peacefully protesting and were instead, accused of vandalising vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile's university residence.
Fifty-three-year-old Ratnam, has been employed with the University of Hyderabad (UoH) for close to 15 years. An associate professor in the political science department, Ratnam has made a seminal contribution towards Dalit issues. A prominent representative of the roughly 50-strong Dalit faculty members group at UoH, he is also popular as the founder of the Ambedkar Studies Centre at the university.
The 31-year-old Tathagata Sengupta is known for his articulate nature. He has been serving as the assistant professor at the Mathematics department at the UoH for nearly five years. Despite being the joint secretary of the University of Hyderabad Teachers' Association, he has been closely associated with the several issues raised by the students' community. People close to him say that he was driven by social justice and was deeply invested with a strong sense of judgement.
Meawnhile, the Joint Action Committe for Social Justice has issued a strong press release dated June 14, 2016 condemning the suspension.
Condemn the Suspension of Prof. K.Y Ratnam & Dr.Tathagata Sengupta! Arrest all the five culprits responsible for Rohith Vemula’s death!
The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) condemns the atrocious and outrageous decision taken by the institutional murderer Appa Rao Podile-led University of Hyderabad for suspending a senior Dalit Professor K.Y Ratnam and Dr.Tathagata Sengupta in the pretext of their illegal arrest on March 22, 2016. The Dalit research scholars Rohith, Prashanth, Vijay, Seshiah and Dr.Sunkanna were ostracized and subjected to social boycott by the same Executive Council that took the decision of suspension on June 6, 2016 and issued the suspension orders to our teachers on June 13, 2016.
Appa Rao Podile, after three months, is citing “a Government rule” to justify his decision of suspending the two teachers. It is such an irony that a culprit booked under non-bailable charges is scot free and exercising his power as Vice-Chancellor with complete impunity provided by the BJP-led MHRD and Central Government to take arbitrary decisions against students and teachers protesting for #JusticeforRohith.
The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) repeats what we had demanded when Appa Rao Podile had returned to campus on the 22nd March that Section 17 of the SC/ST PoA Act be immediately applied because it clearly states that preventive action can be taken in case of an area prone to atrocities against those who have committed an offense under SC/ST PoA Act. Completely violating this section, Appa Rao Podile has been allowed by MHRD and Telangana State to return to the University. Our fears then, that Appa Rao Podile’s presence on campus will tamper with the evidence and created fear and distress among the students has been proven true time and again.
Prof.Sreepati Ramudu who resigned from the post of Head of Center for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy recently in protest against the appointment of Vipin Srivastava as Pro-Vice Chancellor mentioned in his resignation letter about the constant humiliation and oppression that is meted out to the Dalit community in University of Hyderabad. After persecuting Dalit students, the Kamma Fascist Appa Rao Podile and his political masters sitting in Nagpur are now targeting Prof. K.Y Ratnam, the Head of Center for Ambedkar Studies who along with three other Dalit intellectuals gave a befitting reply to RSS against the appropriation of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s works by Sangh Parivar. In 2002, when ten dalit students were rusticated by the then Chief Warden Appa Rao Podile, Prof. K.Y Ratnam registered his protest against the casteist University administration. Even after their release from jail, Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr.Tathagata Sengupta continued to raise their voices for #JusticeforRohith in different parts of the country. It is no surprise that such a decision targeting these teachers has come out at this juncture because Appa Rao Podile feels threatened by the spirit and commitment of the struggling University community.
Post January 17,Appa Rao Podile fled from campus and after two months, he returned with a massive police force and a well conspired “task list” that chalked out the responsibilities for his stooges in University to ensure his smooth return on March 22, 2016 to capture the Vice-Chancellor’s post. On that day, State police and CRPF unleashed its brute force on the protesting students who did not accept an institutional murderer as Vice-Chancellor and demanded for his immediate arrest. Instead, when police started thrashing and arresting students,
Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr. Tathagata Sengupta intervened and asked the police to not beat us and demanded that the culprit booked under SC/ST PoA Act and Abetment of Suicide be arrested immediately. However, our teachers were dragged inside police vans, subjected to custodial torture and jail time. On March 23, 2016, another Dalit research scholar Uday Bhanu, member of Joint Action Committee was brutally beaten up by police and threatened for life for cooking food near Velivada. Students decided to cook food for themselves when Appa Rao Podile created rifts between non-teaching staff and struggling students by luring a section of them and imposed a 48 hour ban on food and other basic amenities. This is the context of Appa Rao Podile’s presence as Vice-Chancellor that we cannot forget.
What took Appa Rao Podile-led Executive Council so long to decide on the suspension of the teachers? Why did Appa Rao Podile conduct the Executive Council meeting during the vacation? Wasn’t this meeting convened to execute Appa Rao Podile’s agenda of suspending the struggling teachers to create fear among the University community? It is not coincidental that University has intensified its attacks on #JusticeforRohith struggle during the vacation. As vacation started, the University administration shut down hostels, stole our tents and desecrated Babasaheb Ambedkar’s images, quotes and the Preamble of the Constitution that amounts to yet another atrocity as per SC/ST PoA Amendments Act (2015), whitewashed all the walls that carried the memories of our struggle and in the latest attack, suspended our teachers who stood uncompromisingly against the dictatorial regime of the institutional murderer.
The unrest and an atmosphere of fear and intimidation prevailing on campus is generated among students after the return of the primary accused in the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula. Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) demands that Appa Rao Podile must be arrested immediately to stop further atrocity against Dalits on campus. We demand the immediate revocation of suspension of Prof. K.Y Ratnam and Dr. Tathagata Sengupta. We demand the imposition of section 17 of POA act to be imposed upon the university. We reiterate that WE WILL NOT STEP BACK UNTIL JUSTICE IS DELIVERED TO ROHITH VEMULA.Jai Bheem!! Inquilab Zindabad!!
Johar, Rohith Vemula!!
Prof KY Ratnam
Prof Tathagata Sengupta
References:
1. First Person: How the Police Battered and Brutalised Arrested Students and Professors of UoH
2. Suspended VC barged in to disrupt university’s progress towards normalcy
3. Bail Granted to Students and Faculty of HCU
4. Withdraw Police, Suspend VC, Order Probe: 300 International Academics on HCU
5. Faculty Member accuses VC Appa Rao of Bid to Shut Down HCU
6. HCU Erupts: Plan to attack Unsuspecting protesting Students?
7. UoH Alumni Open Letter against the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, the return of Dr. Appa Rao as UoH’s VC, and the brutal display of state violence in campus.
8. National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights Calls for Immediate Action
9. HCU: Students and Fculty Arrested for Peaceful Protests Must be Released
10. HRD Ministry should not be Converted into Hindu Rashtra Development Ministry: CPM
11.Letter by CPI(M), Sitaram Yechury addressed to the Telangana Chief Minister, Shri K Chandrasekar Rao
12. Rubbing Salt on Wounds: Modi Regime appoints Anti-Dalit Prof as Pro VC, HCU
13. Suspended VC Appa Rao seeks Legitimacy by Dividing Students Union: HCU
14. Suspend Appa Rao as VC, Step up Investigations for Violations against Atrocities Act
15. HCU Faculty raps Appa Rao: "Shame that You are stooping to such Tactics"
16. HCU bows to Campus Outrage: Rohith Vemula Suicide
17. One Day Fast in Support of Students of JNU and HCU:Bengaluru
18. History is Made at HCU on the Eve of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar
19. Campus with a difference JNU and HCU are being targeted because they attract and nurture students from lower castes.