The unrest in University of Hyderabad took a fresh turn on Wednesday when students' union general secretary and Students Federation of India (SFI) member Raju Kumar Sahu `quit' the party citing irreconcilable differences over the manner in which the agitation was being carried out on campus following the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula.

HYDERABAD: The unrest in University of Hyderabad took a fresh turn on Wednesday when students' union general secretary and Students Federation of India (SFI) member Raju Kumar Sahu `quit' the party citing irreconcilable differences over the manner in which the agitation was being carried out on campus following the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula.

Sahu, who had been an active participant in the protests following Rohith's death, on Wednesday told the media that he had quit the SFI.He further hinted that he was feeling lonely and was going down the same path as Rohith because of the “SFI's false principles and reality“. However, Sahu as of Wednesday continued to remain general secretary of the students' union.

Lashing out at the SFI and Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice, Sahu said the ongoing Rohith `movement' has “putting the future of students at stake“. “My loneliness and alienation are affecting my studies and also apparently driving me towards the unfortunate path undertaken by Rohith Vemula. I think coming into the open and getting distanced from the wrong way would save me from the doom (sic),“ said Raju.

He cited several reasons for his decision to quit, chief among which were the “opportunistic politics of SFI“, false propaganda being carried out against certain people, students losing out on opportunities due to the agitations and the irrelevance of the movement.

Speaking in greater detail about his allegation of opportunistic politics, Sahu said that this could be seen right from the selection of candidates for union elections -a process in which, according to him, caste and communal cards played a heavy role.“Region and religion are also major factors in SFI politics today , though outwardly it is proclaimed that they are above petty politics of caste, community and religion,“ he said. Raju also rubbished videos of individual narrations of atrocities at the hands of the police during the protest and said these stories were only told to “garner undue mileage“.

He quoted a few lines from Rohith's suicide note, where the deceased scholar had hinted that all was not well with the ASA (Ambedkar Students' Association) and the SFI. “He (Rohith) was disillusioned and went on to join ASA. It is very unfortunate that he believed in radical methods to achieve justice for the poor. According to me, SFI nurtured feelings of hatred in him which he was displaying against others, whom he perceived to be his enemies. It is very unfortunate that he committed suicide,“ Sahu said. Sahu also said that the JAC and SFI unit of UoH were controlled by `external forces'. “As per my under standing, the movement is massively funded by the Congress, Left and op portunist forces of the country . Cer tain faculty members and outsiders including politicians are also keen on continuing the agitation,“ he added.

About money flow, he said “certain individual members“ of the move ment were having lavish parties daily .

In response to “shocking“ allega tions made by Raju, the SFI expelled him from the primary membership of the party for “maligning the or ganisation and the movement Justice for Rohith“. Akshita Indra, Central Committee member of SFI, said, “There was no sign of this coming. He (Sahu) had in fact staged a walk out from the university general body meeting on April 12, demanding justice for Rohith and insisting that vice-chancellor P Appa Rao not chair the meeting.Whatever Sahu said today is what ABVP has been saying all long. Either he has been threatened or lured.He seems to be parroting someone else's script.“

While Sahu's resignation prompted heavy backlash from the student community on social media, he refuted being forced by anyone. “Since four months, SFI has been protesting without motive. Even I want justice for Rohith, but not at the cost of other students' future. If they want to protest, they should seek a CBI inquiry and protest in a legitimate manner.Protesting at the shopping complex is not going to serve any purpose. This is my individual stance. No authority forced me to say this,“ he told TOI.

