Despite nationwide and international criticism of Appa Rao and the Centre’s police brutality unleashed against peacefully protesting students of the Hyderabad Central University, there appears every likelihood that the suspended VC Appa Rao with the full backing of the Centre is likely to unleash a further set of confrontations with students.
Instead of entering into collaborative discussions with students, the administration has, on March 24, 2016 at a meeting discussed how to ensure permanent presence of the police on campus and even contemplated destroying the Rohith Stupa and Veliwada constructed by students on campus in memory of Rohith and as a symbol of struggle.
The Joint Action Committee ( JAC) of students has released images of the Minutes of the Meeting that it got access to. In response the JAC has also issued a strong statement:
"University of Hyderabad that became a graveyard for Dalit students is now being converted into a military camp. These strong use of words are not an exaggeration or a political rhetoric but is supported by substantial evidences. The minutes of the VC’s meeting with the deans held on the 24th of March, which reads like a death sentence to the students of this university and the university itself, were leaked in the public domain. Our faculties who were arrested, after coming out made a statement that they felt that the jails were much more democratic than this university, this document proves them right"
"Coming to the document, it mentions that the UGC guidelines that recommend the installation of a police outpost in university campuses will be mandated in UoH. It also states that CISF, the central industrial security forces force will be instated at the earliest. The document states that “It was also felt that the university should not hesitate on the expenditure incurred on security”. It stated that the velivada and Rohith’s stupa that has been installed by the students in memory of Rohith will be removed using police and security force regardless of any consent or consideration to the students. We are again witnessing a pre-planned ploy by the university to erase the memory of Rohith so that people will forget about the injustice and stop holding the university accountable. "
