Another dalit student refuses to accept medal

LUCKNOW: Another dalit student of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) has refused to accept medal at the 7th convocation of the university on Friday.

After Sudhakar Pushkar now Neeraj Gautam, who belongs to scheduled caste, said his protest was against the present vice chancellor RC Sobti. “We heartily welcome President Ram Nath Kovind. Our protest is against the vice chancellor for discriminating against dalit students,” he said.

Both Sudhakar and Neeraj have topped in M Phil Management programme with 73.75%. “We refuse to accept medals because of university administration’s discriminatory attitude towards dalit students,” they said. The duo said their protest was against the system prevailing in the university and it had nothing to do with the President’s visit.

Neeraj wants to become a teacher and help other dalit students in their studies so that they can lead respectable lives. “Why should one hate a person just because he is a dalit? We have done well in academics and should be treated properly,” he said.

Sudhakar said, “University officials are harassing dalit students who are rusticated and punished severely, which is not the case with general category students. You cannot have two separate rules for student community.” Dalit students want a probe in the five-year tenure of the VC and also questioned the appointments done by him.

Though open to students from all caste and religious groups, 50% of the seats in the university are reserved for students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST).

An UGC audit report had recently flayed Ambedkar University for the caste politics prevalent on its campus. “The ‘final death knell’ for the university is the role of caste and the part it has played in completely polarising the institution into various groups, special interests, political groupings,” the report had said.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had set up five committees to conduct an “academic, research, financial and infrastructure audit” on April 25 of 10 central universities, including BR Ambedkar University, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Pondicherry University and Allahabad University.