Maya raises student suicides, blames ‘caste exploitation’

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday expressed concern at reports of student suicides “specially” in higher educational institutes, blaming the “caste-based system” for it. The remarks were made on the occasion of her mentor and party founder Kanshiram’s birth anniversary on Wednesday, just over a month after an 18-year-old Dalit student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Bombay allegedly died by suicide on February 12.

Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student body within IIT Bombay, had blamed the institute for failing to create inclusive spaces for Dalits and tribals and referred to the alleged suicide as “institutional murder”, a charge vehemently denied by IIT Bombay.

“Government neglect, lack of rule of law and increasing caste exploitation are leading to increasing cases of suicide in higher educational institutes. The governments need to take urgent steps to check the trend,” the BSP chief said in her message on the occasion. She also appealed to the students to learn from the life struggles of great leaders like Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.

“In any case, the BSP was born with the intention of ending caste-based exploitation and that is why there is all the more need for the community to gain the key to power,” she said.

“Behenji (Mayawati) has rightly highlighted an important issue. Student suicides whether in Kota, or in higher educational institutes, are a matter of concern and I think it’s time the government did something about it,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political expert.

The BSP chief also used the occasion to target the Samajwadi Party over its chief Akhilesh Yadav’s recent claim of the BSP being the BJP’s ‘B’ team.

“Everyone knows who was and still continues to be the ‘B’ team,” she said, while recalling the contributions of Ambedkar who made deprived and exploited Bahujan Samaj a “political force”.