Arrests dash hopes of Maoists ‘sympathy’ wave

The arrest of two Maoists who had hatched a plan to kill University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, spoiled hopes of the party to garner trust and support of students.

They were said to have believed that by committing the act, it would have led to a lot of students joining the maoist movement.

The Vice-Chancellor was unperturbed by the entire hullabaloo and said he had no comment to make as he had received no direct threat or direct alert from the police. He also added that until he did, he would consider the whole episode inconsequential.

Rohith Vemula’s suicide on January 17, 2016, did shake the nation and sparked a debate against caste discrimination in higher educational institutions. Sunkanna Velpula, one of the students who was expelled with Vemula, says, “Our movement led to frustration among a few students because it was not bearing any fruit. In 2016 itself, a few students had asked us to approach the Maoists but we declined because our movement would get a negative tinge and active protesters would be labelled as sympathisers of Maoists.”

The accused were also formerly students of the varsity.

Universities across the city already made their stance clear by not granting admission to students who were politically active. Scrutinisation of posts of students on social media was also being done by university authorities before admission which had led to widespread protests.