Students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Monday evening tried to stitch a tent for a new 'velivada', two days after they alleged that the authorities removed the older tents put up at the protest venue following Rohith Vemula’s suicide.
The JAC in statement said that Rohith's blanket would be used as the "backbone of the tent."
"Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (UoH) appeals to students and professors of University of Hyderabad to donate clothes to this new initiative. ...We will put our tent and Babasaheb Ambedkar's banners back and start living there to protect the Velivada," the statement said.
Earlier, the students alleged that the university "desecrated" a banner of Babasaheb Ambedkar. Angry students stated that they would not let the university function on Saturday.
Security forces at the university also got into a heated altercation with the students at the protest side after they allegedly tried to take the tent away.
Last week, Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, sent a notice to the student union president asking them to remove all the tents at the shopping complex in the campus which were put up following Rohith Vemula’s death.
Though these tents were put after Rohith's suicide on January 17, the ‘Velivada’ enclosure, or Dalit colony, was put up in the shopping complex by the five Dalit students, including Rohith Vemula, who were protesting their earlier suspension.
Following Rohith's death, the other students continued to stay in the Velivada as a mark of protest.