JNU student’s social media posts speak of prejudice and struggle

In one of his Facebook posts, J Muthukrishnan – the 27-year-old PHD scholar of JNU who allegedly committed suicide on Monday – had requested Vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar to let the ‘first generation marginals’ study and not create hurdles for them.

Further, his Facebook posts and blogs on the social media highlighted the discrimination and struggle the deceased had to go through.

Muthu, who belonged to Salem district of Tamil Nadu, had severely criticised the University’s admission policy in a Facebook post days before he committed suicide.

“Dear UGC acting Chairman, please give a chance to the first generation marginals, otherwise they will misunderstand maths as enemy. Education means depression. Students will misunderstand that the University means discrimination,” read Muthukrishnan’s post dated February 22 Facebook, where he went by the name ‘Rajini Krish’.

“Please change, please give a chance,” the post further read.

In a Facebook post dated July 26 last year, the deceased’s will to study in JNU University became clear when he talked about his endless attempts to crack the entrance exams for MA and M Phil/phd. “Every

year, to visit JNU, I worked many menial jobs, saved the money like ant… and begged people to get money,” the post further read. A post dated December 20 had hash tags which stated ‘Caste Gives Intoxication’. This hinted on the fact that the deceased faced discrimination.

Further, another post carried his picture with the caption ‘May be one last picture before somebody kills the skills’.

Fourteen months after the suicide of Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula, Muthukrishnan was extremely unsettled. Later, in his blog, Muthu mentioned how he met Rohith six times before the latter took the extreme step on January 17 last year.

“They are going to kill many Rohiths, like us, just for eating beef, for being rational, for being intellectually productive for the country,” stated Muthu in a blog titled ‘A Universal Mother without A Nation’.

Every year, to visit JNU, I worked many menial jobs, saved the money like ant… and begged people to get money J Muthukrishnan