BJP leader Varun Gandhi says he cried while reading Rohith Vemula's suicide note

Earlier this month, the Andhra Pradesh government declared that Rohith Vemula belonged to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and was not a Dalit.

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi has revealed that he broke down while reading the suicide letter written by Hyderabad University PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.

While addressing a lecture on the "Ideas for a new India", Gandhi said, "Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD student from Hyderabad, committed suicide last year. When I read his letter, I broke into tears. Rohith wrote that he was taking the extreme step because he had committed the sin of taking birth in such form. This line pained my heart immensely."

Notably, earlier this month, the Andhra Pradesh government declared that Rohith belonged to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and was not a Dalit.

The government also decided to cancel the Scheduled Caste certificate “fraudulently” obtained by Rohith and his mother Radhika Vemula.

Meanwhile, further vouching for Dalits, Varun Gandhi raised concern over the biased behaviour adopted by people across the nation against the weaker sections.

"Seventy percent kids in a school didn`t eat their lunch under the mid-day meal scheme for quite some time as the food was cooked by a woman belonging to a weaker section," he said.

"What are we teaching our kids? After all, where is this country and world heading for?" he asked.

Rohith Vemula had committed suicide by hanging himself in a hostel room on the campus on January 17, 2016, after alleged caste-based discrimination, triggering protests across India.

He had resorted to the extreme step during a protest along with four other Dalit students over their suspension by the university following a clash with ABVP leader.