Just a year after the shocking suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University, another dalit scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Muthu Krishnan (28) committed suicide in a friend’s home. He was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his friend’s house in the national capital on Monday. Muthu Krishnan had been at the forefront of the movement for justice for Rohith Vemula.
He had complained of inequality in his last Facebook post on March 10. “There is no Equality in M.Phil/PhD Admission, there is no equality in Viva – voce, there is only denial of equality, denying prof. Sukhadeo Thorat recommendation (over caste discrimination in higher education), denying Students protest places in Ad-block, denying the education of the marginal. When Equality is denied everything is denied.’’
Muthu Krishnan, who hails from Tamil Nadu’s Salem district, completed his M.Phil from University of Hyderabad (UoH) in 2015 before joining JNU.
Muthu Krishnan was heartbroken when Vemula committed suicide. He wrote several Facebook posts on Vemula and was present at all protest meetings held in Vemula’s memory. JNU Students Union president Mohit Pandey said Krishnan was very active in protests.
Muthu Krishnan participated in JNU administration block blockade that the Committee of Suspended Students for Social Justice had called. He had written an article on Rohith Vemula’s mother, Radhikamma. “Dear anti-nationals, let me tell you, one day this nation’s leader is going to sell all just for a selfie and for a standing ovation from the outsiders,’’ he wrote. “Hundreds and hundreds of Appa Raos (UoH Vice-Chancellor) are going to kill thousands of Rohiths…’’ He wrote that intellectuals from marginalised communities will get arrested for mocking fictional characters.
“At the same time, all the leading national institutes will be headed by people who cannot even clear the 10th standard exam. These people claim dissenters are anti-nationals and seditious,’’ he wrote. “They are going to kill many Rohiths, like us, just for eating beef, for being rational, for being intellectually productive for the country. But we are the real sons of this land and after we are all killed, there will be no nation.’’
