New Delhi/Hyderabad, Jan 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday got emotional as he expressed anguish at the suicide of Hyderabad university student Rohith Vemula.
"A young son of my country, Rohith, was compelled to commit suicide, what his family must have gone through, I can feel the pain," PM Modi said addressing the convocation of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.
"A mother has lost his son, there cannot be a bigger grief," PM Modi said.
"Reasons (behind the suicide) and politics (on the issue) may have their own place but the fact remains that a mother has lost her son," he said.
Rohith Vemula had committed suicide on Sunday. He was staging protest along with four other dalit research scholars over their suspension following an alleged clash with some leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Rohith's suicide has kicked up a major row with Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya coming under intense attack from political rivals, who have blamed them for the incident and demanded their removal.
Meanwhile, the Union HRD ministry has set up a judicial commission to look into the sequence of events leading to Rohith Vemula's suicide, based on report by the ministry's fact-finding team.
In Hyderabad, the demand for resignation of vice-chancellor Appa Rao grew louder on Friday with varsity students refusing to put an end to their agitation unless the Centre agreed to remove the VC from the post.
Backing them in this 'fight for justice' were several student union members from other states such as Tamil Nadu and Delhi who were seen making their way into the city campus along with several 'outstation' political leaders.
The Hyderabad University on Thursday had revoked the suspension of four dalit PhD scholars, who had been suspended along with Rohith Vemula.
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