INDIA, February 22—Students rose up today against the capitalist-caused suicide of 26-year-old Rohith Vemula, a Dalit left-wing student protester at the Nehru University (JNU) in Hyderbad. The rise and suppression of student protests demonstrate the growing fascist dictatorship here and, more important, the growth of widespread resistance.
Rohith, Anti-Racist Fighter
Rohith Vemula was a Hindu from the lowest caste group, the Dalit (formerly known as “untouchables”), who was protesting against the Hindu nationalist organization Hindutva and their activities.
A right-wing student group, the ABVP (All-Indian Student Council), allied with the pro-fascist Hindutva party RSS (National Patriotic Organization), had shut down a film screening that exposed the complicity of government officials in an anti-Muslim riot in Uttar Pradesh (state in northern India) that killed at least 100 and left tens of thousands homeless.
Rohith was protesting that anti-Muslim racism as well as the 2012 execution of a Muslim for supposed involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. After a conflict broke out at the demonstration, Rohith and his four friends were suspended from school, while the upper-caste students from the nationalist group were not punished at all.
In protest, a multi-caste group of students pitched a camp in front of the university. They called their camp Velicada, or Dalit Ghetto. Many consider Rohith’s suicide to be his last symbol of protest—and yet another example of racist discrimination against Dalits. Students have taken to the streets and the hashtag #dalitlivesmatter.
Nationalism, Tool of the Bosses
At Nehur University in Dehli, students were given permission to hold a rally protesting the death penalty decision against the alleged Muslim terrorist. Contrary to reports by the bosses’ media, these student protesters were not pro-terrorist; they objected to how the government conducted the trial. Thirty minutes before the rally was scheduled to begin, the university revoked its permission. Students then went to the canteen in the cafeteria area, where political discussions are a common custom. Some students held up posters and shouted slogans that the Indian government considered “treason” because they criticized the government’s role in Kashmir.
The police arrested Kanhaiya Kumar, a leader of the student group, even though he was not present at any of the protests. Kumar was assaulted in the courtroom while the police did nothing, another indication of the breakdown of capitalist law and the move toward open fascism. The government crackdown against the student movement reflects the critical role of Hindu nationalism in sustaining the capitalists’ rule.
The role of Hindu nationalists is not simply to attack the Muslim working class, but in fact to suppress the whole working class. We are divided by caste, religion and nationalism when we need to unite as comrades in struggle.
While anti-worker hatred and violence is making news, it is class exploitation that needs to be exposed. This exploitation soars whenever there is an economic crisis and the bosses need to turn toward fascism. This is happening in India despite all the fake rhetoric about a prosperous middle class. Autoworkers and agricultural workers have been suffering. The jute industry is collapsing, with tens of thousands of workers losing their jobs or facing wage cuts to approximately USD $15 a week. At a recent protest by jute workers near Kolkata, a police attack critically injured a protest leader.  
One Working-Class Struggle, One Party
Resistance movements are beginning to connect the many attacks on the working class. Students at two universities in Kolkata are protesting in solidarity with students in Hyderabad and Delhi. Some students have begun to show more direct support for workers’ struggles. In many parts of the country, the struggle against exploitation and oppression of women has also been growing in important ways.
As competition among the U.S., China and Russia intensifies, the Indian capitalist class will intensify its exploitation of workers here. They will use all kinds of racism, caste exploitation, and propaganda against different ethnicities in a desperate attempt to promote selfishness within the working class. Our allegiance must be to our working-class sisters and brothers, not our supposed race, ethnicity, or religion. All kinds of nationalism are suicide for the working class.
Only communist philosophy and strategy can free the working class. As long as there is capitalist exploitation for profit, there will be capitalist oppression to intimidate and divide the working class. We must dedicate ourselves to building a new international communist party that fights for equality and unity of all workers, across all borders. We PL’ers have dedicated ourselves to this for the past 50 years.
As PLP continues to grow throughout the world, including in South Asia, we can draw on the wisdom, experience and leadership of workers everywhere to build a Party that can put an end to all forms of class exploitation and oppression. Learn more about PLP—check out the website and contact us!
Our call to students, campus and education workers in the United States, Latin America, Africa, and everywhere there is a PLP base: Act in solidarity with the campus struggles in India! An attack on Rohith, Dalit students or Muslim workers is an attack on the whole working class. Fight back!