Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah writes to Rahul Gandhi, says legal team drafting Rohith Vemula Act | India News

Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah (R) (ANI file photograph)

NEW DELHI: Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday wrote a letter to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, informing him that he has directed his legal team to start drafting the Rohith Vemula Act – laws geared toward curbing caste-based discrimination in academic establishments.
The announcement comes after Siddaramaiah’s assertion on Friday, affirming his authorities’s dedication to enacting the legislation on the earliest. This got here after former Congress president Rahul Gandhi urged the Karnataka authorities to introduce the Act, citing the necessity to eradicate caste discrimination in training.
In his letter, Siddaramaiah responded to Gandhi’s April 16 message that referenced an incident confronted by Dr BR Ambedkar. “The reference in your letter dated 16th April 2025, to the incident faced by Dr B R Ambedkar, as narrated by him is indeed a sad reality even to this day. No child or adult must face the shame and stigma faced by Babasaheb,” Siddaramaiah wrote.
Reiterating his administration’s dedication to equality, Siddaramaiah added, “We must join hands to bring the Dalits, Adivasis and Backward classes into the main stream. That the oppressed classes must no more face any discrimination in our educational system.”

“I have instructed my legal advisor and team to prepare a draft of the Rohith Vemula Act, a legislation that will act as a deterrent against discrimination in educational institutions,” he stated.
In his earlier letter, Rahul Gandhi had drawn consideration to the systemic discrimination confronted by marginalized communities. “It is a shame that even today millions of students from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC communities have to face such brutal discrimination in our educational system,” Gandhi wrote.
He additionally invoked the tragic deaths of scholars like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi, and Darshan Solanki as examples of institutional discrimination. “The murder of bright young people like Rohith Vemula, Payal Tadvi and Darshan Solanki is simply not acceptable. It is time to put a firm end to this. I urge the Karnataka government to enact the Rohith Vemula Act so that no child of India has to face what Dr B R Ambedkar, Rohit Vemula and millions of others have had to endure,” he stated.
Rohith Vemula, a Dalit PhD scholar on the University of Hyderabad, died by suicide in 2016, a case that sparked nationwide outrage and have become a logo of caste-based discrimination in academia.