‘When equality is denied, everything is denied’: JNU Dalit scholar’s last FB post before suicide

He was a Kabali fan, and had written his proposal 38 times to get into JNU.

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It has happened again. In January 2016, the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad shook the nation, leading to widespread protests which knocked on the doors of the Indian parliament. On Monday, just about a year and two months since Rohith's death, a Dalit MPhil student from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi was found hanging in his friend’s home at Munirka Vihar.

Twenty-seven year old Muthukrishanan aka Rajini Krish, an alumnus of UoH, was an MPhil student at the Centre for Historical Studies in JNU.

In his final Facebook post on March 10, he laments the denial of equality to Dalit students. He wrote, “There is no Equality in M.phil/phd Admission, there is no equalitiy in Viva – voce, there is only denial of equality, denying prof. Sukhadeo thorat recommendation, denying Students protest places in Ad – block, denying the education of the Marginal’s. When Equality is denied everything is denied.” (sic) (read full post at the bottom of the story.)

He was also a Kabali fan, evidently. In a video posted in August 2016, the scholar is seen mouthing the famous ‘Kabali da’ dialogue from the movie.

Another Facebook post which perhaps details his arduous path to JNU best was the one from July 26, 2016. Son of Alamelu and Jeevanantham, he reportedly wanted to be an IAS officer, and says he wrote his proposal 38 times before getting selected into JNU.

Muthukrishanan’s final post in full (link)