TRS Labelling UOH Students Criminals: Congress

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy accused the TRS government of labeling dalits, ST, BC and minority students as criminals.

Speaking to media persons after visiting the Cherlapally Central Jail along with chief spokesperson Dr D Sravan and NSUI state president Venkat to meet the students of the University Of Hyderabad who are lodged there, Reddy strongly criticised the TRS government for "mistreating" the students and faculty members when they protested the return of Appa Rao as the UoH Vice-Chancellor.

"Instead of sending Appa Rao, an accused in an SC/ST Atrocities case, to jail, the TRS government has targeted the innocent students who were protesting peacefully. They were lathicharged and brutally beaten up even in police vans. This is highly intolerable," he said.

Reddy blamed both the BJP government at the Centre and the TRS government of Telangana for the present unrest in the University Of Hyderabad. "Is it a crime to protest over the suicide by dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula? Is it wrong to demand a Rohith Act to prevent caste discrimination in educational institutions? It is wrong to demand the arrest of Appa Rao who has been booked under a non-bailable offence?" he asked.

He also criticized the TRS government for opposing the bail plea of the UoH students and faculty who were arrested on March 21.

"By opposing the bail petition, the TRS government has clearly shown that it is treating dalits students like criminals," he said.

The TPCC president said false cases cannot deter students from democratic struggles. He also said that while the law would take its own course, the TRS government should stop implicating innocent students in false cases, and should immediately arrest Appa Rao. Similarly, the BJP government should stop its interference in the premier educational institutions. He demanded that the Centre immediately dismiss Appa Rao as a person accused in a SC/ST Atrocities case could not be allowed to continue as the Vice-Chancellor of a prestigious institution like the UoH.