Even as protests continue over the death of a Dalit research scholar, Rohith Vemula, in the University of Hyderabad, Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile has come out with two statements in the form of a press note and a video.
In the video, the VC tries to address the various questions raised in the media over the past few days and also dismisses the claims of intervention from the HRD ministry or Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
"There was a letter, no doubt. But, that has never influenced the collective decision making process of the university," he said.
Here is his statement:
We are all saddened by the tragic incident of 17 January 2016 in which we have lost the life of a bright student, Mr. Vemula Rohit Chakravarthi. Let us all join together in sharing the grief with his family members.
We also have to note and learn the ways and means to avoid such incidents in our campus. Let us pledge to give our time and thought processes to prevent recurrence of such incidents that disturb the peace of the campus.
As this semester is a shortened semester and we have a hectic schedule ahead, let us not miss out on the class work, research and administrative work from today. It is appealed to all the members of the University to put all our heads together and learn to work even in the crisis situations.
It is further appealed that a group of senior faculty colleagues and Dean, Students’ Welfare, need to engage in discussions with the students to understand their concerns, resolve matters in an amicable manner and also to preempt such issues of the students in future.
Watch the video here.