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Kanhaiya Likens Rohith Vemula To Bhagat Singh
Student leader of India's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)Kanhaiya Kumar speaks to the media at Hyderabad Central University in Hyderabad on March 23, 2016.Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)Delhi student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is on bail on sedition charges, arrived in Hyderabad to join protesting Hyderabad University students who are demanding that their vice-chancellor resign. / AFP / NOAH SEELAM (Photo credit should read NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)
NOAH SEELAM via Getty Images
Student leader of India's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)Kanhaiya Kumar speaks to the media at Hyderabad Central University in Hyderabad on March 23, 2016.Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)Delhi student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who is on bail on sedition charges, arrived in Hyderabad to join protesting Hyderabad University students who are demanding that their vice-chancellor resign. / AFP / NOAH SEELAM (Photo credit should read NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images)

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar was stopped outside the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) gate on Wednesday where he told a group of students and media personnel that the protesters can’t be silenced by the use of force and they will continue to fight till the 'Rohith Act' was promulgated.

Warning the university administration and the police that prohibiting him and the protesting students from entering the university will not help in stifling their voices, Kumar said that he will strive to make Rohith Vemula’s dream a reality. Vemula, a 26-year-old Dalit scholar at the HCU, committed suicide by hanging in a hostel room on campus in January after he was rusticated.

Want to tell HCU admin & police who've prohibited us from entering Univ that you can't suppress our voice: #Kanhaiyapic.twitter.com/MHEplUzp9D

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2016

“How many Rohith’s will you kill? We demand justice for Rohith. It is unfortunate that the government is turning a deaf ear to students,” Kumar said outside the university campus.

We've come here for justice for #RohithVemula. Unfortunate that Govt is not listening to voice of students: #Kanhaiya outside Hyderabad Uni

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2016

Kumar, who met Vemula’s mother earlier in the day, reiterated the demand for introducing ‘Rohith Act’, and likened Vemula's mother to Bhagat Singh's mother.

#WATCH: #RohithVemula ki mata ji aaj ke samay mein Bhagat Singh ki maa jaisi hain, says #KanhaiyaKumarhttps://t.co/2cCrTM8I5k

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2016

#Kanhaiya meets #RohithVemula's mother Radhika in Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/T5ImajmHHI

— ANI (@ANI_news) March 23, 2016

Emphasizing his faith in democracy and the constitution of the country, Kumar raised slogans of 'lokatantra zindabad and samvidhan zindabad' outside the university campus.

Students at the HCU were stranded on campus without drinking water and food for atleast 24 hours after they started protesting on Tuesday as Podile, who was blamed for Vemula's suicide, resumed duty.

Kumar had arrived in Hyderabad to meet Vemula’s mother and also to deliver a talk on constitutional rights at the HCU even as protests continued in the university over the return of its Vice Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile.

Meanwhile, students at the HCU were stranded on campus without drinking water and food for at least 24 hours after they started protesting on Tuesday as Podile, who was blamed for Vemula's suicide, resumed duty.

Twenty-five students and two faculty members of university were arrested on Wednesday in connection with incidents of ransacking Podile's lodge and stone pelting on police personnel.

As dining halls in the HCU remain closed due to strike by non-teaching staff, students resorted to cooking in the open area.

According to Gachibowli police inspector J Ramesh, so far two cases have been booked on charges of damage to public property, trespass and preventing Government officials from performing their duties and other relevant sections of IPC in connection with yesterday's incidents.

All the accused will be produced in a court soon, he added.

Students on Tuesday vandalised the official residence of HCU vice-chancellor Podile and the police had to lathicharge a group of students during their protest against him resuming charge after a two-month leave following Vemula's suicide.

Meanwhile, National Students Union of India President Roji M John in a statement alleged that the protesting students have been taken to unknown locations by the police and aren't traceable.

Kumar, who shot to fame after he was arrested on sedition charges, met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday and thanked him for his support to the JNU students.

As dining halls in the HCU remain closed due to strike by non-teaching staff, students resorted to cooking in the open area.

"By denying drinking water, food, cutting internet and keeping the media out, the government is playing dirty politics on the campus. This behaviour of the government is reflecting its inhuman, violent and fascist face," the NSUI leader added.

Kumar, who shot to fame after he was arrested on sedition charges, met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday and thanked him for his support to the JNU students.

He was booked and arrested on a charge of involvement in anti-national sloganeering on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9. The Delhi High Court today adjourned the hearing on petitions seeking cancellation of the interim bail granted to him for April 28.

A petition was filed in the High Court on March 15 seeking cancellation of his interim bail, saying that Kanhaiya had violated the bail conditions and made some objectionable remarks against the armed forces. Kanhaiya was released from Tihar Jail on an interim bail of six months on March 3.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.