Dear Kunal Kamra, stop exploiting the name of Rohith Vemula to justify your incoherent rants against Arnab Goswami

The following article was written for MyInd Makers. Pasting it here for reference

On January 28th, alleged comedian Kunal Kamra posted a video on twitter and told us that “I did this for my hero. I did it for Rohit”.

Without even watching the video, the first thought that came to my mind was as to how long will these vultures continue to feed on the unfortunate body of Rohith Vemula? And after watching the video, I am perplexed as to what relevance does Rohith Vemula even have for his incoherent rant in the video!

For the uninitiated, Rohith Vemula was a student of Hyderabad Central University who committed suicide in January, 2016. In his suicide letter (which the alleged comedian asks Arnab to f***ing read), Rohith very clearly mentioned that “No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself. No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone.”

He said, “do not trouble my friends and enemies”, and yet these vultures continue to use him in desperate attempts to make cheap points. Infact, at that point in time, The Hindu, through their editorial, tells us that - “His suicide note, which was posted on social media, states categorically that no one is responsible for his act, a statement that should not be taken at face value.” N. Ram encompasses the entire arrogant ilk of the media industry that takes gleeful pride in condescendingly tell us what should be taken seriously and what should be not. The media and political industry wanted to badly suppress these particular lines from the letter, but realised that in the age of SM, it is impossible to do so.

Rohith wrote another poignant line at that time - “I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster.” Why did he feel so? If we listen to the commentary from the media industry, we will be led to believe that he thought so because of Narendra Modi and the BJP.  In this video, a few ABVP members are asking Rohith why he tore up an ABVP poster. They ask him if this is what his organization is teaching him? For the uninitiated, his organization is Ambedkar Student Association (ASA).

The first line of Rohith’s answer is shocking: “My organization has taught me to ***k anyone who is from ABVP or Hindutva”. I listened to it thrice to confirm whether he actually used the profanity to describe what he has been taught. It is true – this is exactly what he said.

The Ambedkar Student Association was part of a “funeral prayer” in July 2015. The Hindu cleverly doesn’t mention whom the “funeral prayer” is for. It was convicted terrorist Yakub Memon. Students at that “funeral prayer” held a poster that said - “How many Yakub’s will you kill. A Yakub will emerge from every house.”

So basically these students were threatening that a terrorist will be born in every house and he will kill you. According to the disastrous media industry, we are to understand that this is all part of free speech and move along. But then ABVP guys protested against this act of the ASA. We are then told that because ABVP leaders, Sushil Kumar “incited hatred” through a facebook post. He was beaten up 30 people, and the University took cognizance of this violence. Rohith Vemula was one of the persons the University has rusticated (subsequently revoked but with no access to hostel).

Now, do you see why he felt like a “monster”? If this is what he is taught; if this is how he is brainwashed, is there any wonder he feels so lost? Is the purpose of an ideological fight, just to tear up posters and beat up people?

Rohith Vemula’s facebook posts have also revealed his dislike towards the student politics that SFI does. There are many other examples of his posts that were written about, during those harrowing times. Then there is the entire big controversy on his caste.

Why was it so difficult to grasp that Rohith Vemula fell victim to this cheap, violent and immature politics that he was dragged into? You want to respect Rohith Vemula? Do so by debating the purpose of violence on campus. Do so by debating the purpose of student unions on campus that do nothing but incite hatred. Do so by debating the worthiness of groups that disrupt university proceedings at the drop of a hat. Do so by condemning the terrorist sympathizers on our University campuses.

If anything, Rohith’s death must spark a debate on the uselessness of groupism and politics on University campuses. Not incoherent rants against a TV anchor on a commercial flight. If you are doing the latter, you are no better than all those people who killed the ambitions of a budding science writer and made him into a “monster”.