Rahul Gandhi writes to Himachal, Telangana CMs for enacting law to end discrimination in education

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to the chief ministers of party-ruled Telangana and Himachal Pradesh for enacting a law to ensure no one faced caste-based discrimination in the education system, days after urging Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to enact a similar legislation.

Gandhi urged Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to enact a "Rohit Vemula Act" and asserted that the Congress was fully committed to providing every child equal access to education.

"Unless every student receives respect, security and equal opportunity without discrimination, our education system cannot be fair to all. After writing to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ji, I have written a letter to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ji and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy ji and requested them to implement a 'Rohit Vemula Act'," he said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The Congress is fully committed to providing equal access to education to every child and eliminating caste discrimination," he added, sharing the letters to the two chief ministers.

In his letters, the former Congress chief quoted BR Ambedkar to highlight the discrimination he had faced.

He also cited Ambedkar to say that the chief architect of the Constitution faced discrimination even in school where he was made to sit in a corner by himself.

"I know you would agree that what Dr BR Ambedkar faced was shameful and should not be endured by any child in India. It is a shame that, even today, millions of students from Dalit, Adivasi and OBC (Other Backward Classes) communities have to face such brutal discrimination in our educational system," he said in his letters.

"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 Telangana government to enact the 'Rohith Vemula Act' so that no child of India has to face what Dr BR Ambedkar, Rohit Vemula and millions of others have had to endure," Gandhi said in his letter to Reddy.

His letter to Sukhu contained a similar message.

Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student and a PhD scholar at the University of Hyderabad, died by suicide due to caste-based discrimination, in 2016.

Gandhi had earlier written to Siddaramaiah, urging the state government to enact such a law.

"I have written a letter to Siddaramaiah ji and requested that the 'Rohith Vemula Act' be implemented in Karnataka. No child in India should face the casteism that Babasaheb Ambedkar, Rohith Vemula and crores of people have suffered," he had said.