The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday protested over the suicide by a Dalit research scholar and demanded the resignation and arrest of union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and the vice chancellor of the University of Hyderabad.Over 300 supporters of AAP Delhi unit and its student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, gathered at the Jantar Mantar here, including party leader Ashutosh and MLAs Sandeep Kumar and Rakhi Birla."We demand the immediate resignation and arrest of union minister Bandaru Dattatreya for driving a Dalit student to suicide in Hyderabad," AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh said earlier at a press conference here.
He demanded that Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's role in the matter should also be investigated.He said the party would launch a nationwide protest on January 21 against the alleged persecution of Dalit students that forced one of them to commit suicide."The Dalits have faced persecution after the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre. There are several instances, including those in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Haryana, where Dalits were targeted, persecuted and even murdered," he added.Rohith Vemula was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in the New Research Scholars' Hostel of the University of Hyderabad late on Sunday. He was one of the five Dalit students suspended and expelled from the hostel and was staging a protest on the campus for the past 15 days.