Vemulas have tainted Rohith's struggle for equality

Scene one: Place Rajgrih building, Dadar; 1pm, April 14, 2016

The Hyderabad-based late Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika and brother Raja proclaim that they will be free of daily humiliation and shame as they have embraced Buddhism. They complain that no one listens to the depressed people and are they not treated equally. 

Scene two: Place Chaityabhoomi, Dadar; 4pm, April 14, 2016

Policemen ask the great Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's ordinary followers, who were standing in the queue for more than two hours under a hot sun, to clear the way for a "VIP" coming to pay tributes to the architect of the Constitution on the icon's 125th birth anniversary. The VIP is none another than Radhika and Raja. They do not stand in the queue, but go straight to Dr Ambedkar's memorial, in the company of a few politicians, and give interviews to TV crews repeating the same: no one treats them like the rest of the commoners.

Radhika and Raja have done exactly opposite of what they had claimed so far. They have also become a part of a "caste system" where influential people get certain privileges over the commoners. And that too barely three hours after they had cried foul about the caste system in Hinduism. "We are against the caste system in Hinduism and have, therefore, decided to embrace Buddhism which does not have such an oppressive system of castes," Raja had said.

I am also a "victim" of the VIP culture of which Radhika and Raja have become a part, knowingly. I was standing in the queue like the other ordinary person to get inside Chaityabhoomi and gauge the public mood. I did not reveal to the policemen that I was a journalist. I did not seek any special attention or permission to break the queue. The crowd was much disciplined. No one tried to push anyone or intrude into someone else's space. Most importantly, it was moving fast till Radhika and Raja arrived there. I had just passed through the metal detector and was watching the enlarged photographs, part of a coffee table book on Dr Ambedkar, exhibited in a makeshift pandal.

Then I heard the policemen's voice, "Baju vha, baju vha (stay clear, stay clear)." First I thought some politician could have come there for darshan but when I noticed they were Radhika and Raja I quipped to a friend, "Oh! They have become VIPs now."

At this point, pace of the crowd movement got slower. We took another 15 minutes to cross a distance of 200 metres and reach the memorial which we could have otherwise done in six to seven minutes.

After paying tributes to Dr Ambedkar I went up to the roof of the memorial where Radhika and Raja were giving interviews to TV crews. Raja answered the questions in English, Radhika in Telugu and one of their accomplices translated her statements in Hindi.

My friend from ABP, Majha Ritvik Bhalekar, asked Raja a question on how he would react to the attempt of assault on Kanhaiya Kumar in Nagpur earlier in the day. "Don't reply to this question," quipped another accomplice. "Just say I have no comments on this. Otherwise, they will divert the real story," he said.

Later, the person, who refused to identify himself, complained that the Kanhaiya Kumar episode has overshadowed the Rohith Vemula issue. When I asked him if he was trying to blame the media for that, the bespectacled man, who was in his thirties and clad in white, said, "I am not saying so, but it is a fact that Rohith Vemula issue has been pushed back because of Kanhaiya Kumar."

Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan had reached there with his camera. Someone told me that he is going to produce a documentary on Radhika and Raja. Obviously, the topic of the documentary is how the duo suffered from the caste system, how the Hindus treated them badly and how they have come up with a solution to that.

As Radhika and Raja were repeating their answers to each media team I left the place and came to the nearby Dadar chowpaty. A vendor was selling some books there. I chose to buy Annihilation of Caste authored by Dr Ambedkar for Rs 75. The book quotes Lord Buddha as saying, "Know truth as truth, and untruth as untruth."

I hope the new VIPs, Radhika and Raja, follow him as they have embraced Buddhism now.