Mother India has lost a son; I feel the pain: Modi on Rohith's suicide

Breaking his silence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday voiced his grief over the suicide of a Dalit scholar in Hyderabad University even as some students raised slogans during his speech.

“When there is news that a youth of my country, Rohith, was compelled to commit suicide, what his family must have gone through. Mother India has lost a son. There will be reasons, there will be politics (surrounding it) but the fact remains that a mother has lost her son. I feel the pain very well,” a visibly emotional Modi said.

He was speaking as the chief guest at the convocation ceremony of the B R Ambedkar University in Lucknow, which was marred by protest by two students, who were evicted by police as they shouted slogans like “Modi murdabad” and “Modi go back, Modi go back”.

The suicide by Rohith Vemula, a Dalit scholar of the Hyderabad Central University, has kicked up a major row with Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya coming under intense attack from political rivals, who have blamed them for the incident and demanded their removal.

Two students, who were donning blue stoll, meant for Masters degree scholars, were detained after they shouted slogans as the prime minister took to the podium.

University Proctor Kamal Jaiswal said, “We were taken aback. We had taken all precautions. Action will be taken as per rules.”

However, Modi did not go into the politics behind Rohith’s suicide. 

Modi made the reference to Rohith’s suicide while noting that there was happiness about 21st century being projected as India’s as it was the “youngest nation” in the world but such a development pained him.

“But we want to take this country in a direction where there is new enthusiasm and self confidence. We are making relentless effort to take the country in the direction of Ambedkar’s dream,” the prime minister said, adding that the nation cannot progress without following his vision.

In his about 35-minute speech, Modi repeatedly invoked the name and legacy of Ambedkar and asked students to show strong will and courage in the face of difficulties as the Dalit icon did without wasting his time on making any complaint despite facing humiliation and difficulties.

“He did not waste time in complaining and lamenting. He did not seek anything from others. He instead took on the adversities and overcame all obstacles,” Modi said, noting that the maker of Constitution always stressed on the need of education.

Ambedkar’s personality expansive and global, Modi said, adding that he chose to serve India and its downtrodden even though he was welcome in any country in the world due to his high education.

Recalling a meeting of Dalit entrepreneurs he had attended recently, Modi said he saw Ambedkar’s dream there and wanted the country’s youth to be “job-creators and not job-seekers”.

The prime minister also chose the occasion to list a number of schemes launched by his government to promote self-employment as he underlined that students face bigger challenge after they come out of their campus life and have to hunt for employment.

Exhorting the youths to face the challenges of life, Modi said the life history of most great men remind that majority of people who rose in their life had to face difficulties.