Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to enact Rohith Vemula Act to deal with caste-based discrimination in educational institutions.

Apprising about his recent meeting with students and teachers from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC communities in Parliament, he said they narrated how they face caste-based discrimination in colleges and universities.

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Referring to the chief architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar, he said, “Babasaheb Ambedkar had shown that education is the only means by which the deprived can become empowered and break the caste system. But it is very unfortunate that even after decades, lakhs of students are facing caste discrimination in our education system.”

Noting that this discrimination has taken the lives of promising students like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki, he said, “Such horrific incidents cannot be tolerated at any cost. Now is the time to put a complete stop to this injustice.”

“I have written a letter to Siddaramaiah ji requesting him to implement the Rohith Vemula Act in Karnataka so that no child of India has to face what Dr BR Ambedkar, Rohit Vemula and millions of others have had to endure,” Gandhi wrote on X.

The Leader of Opposition along with the post also shared the two-page letter  addressed to the Karnataka Chief  Minister in this regard.