Rohith Vemula was not Dalit, all allegations are baseless: Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj on Saturday said that the scholar Rohith Vemula, who has committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University, was not Dalit.

“As per my information he was not Dalit. The fact is that the allegations made are baseless,” Sushma Swaraj was quoted as saying by ANI.

Rohith, a PhD student at the university, committed suicide by hanging himself in his room.

He was among the six research scholars, suspended by the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year in connection with an alleged attack on an ABVP leader.

The HCU has already revoked suspension of the four students, following uproar over Vemula`s suicide.

The protest over the suicide of a Dalit research scholar in University of Hyderabad intensified with Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi again joining the agitators at the campus and observing a day-long fast on Saturday, even as the BJP targeted him for "playing politics over dead bodies".

(With Agency inputs)