NEW DELHI, 18 APRIL

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging the state government to enact a law named Rohith Vemula Act to end caste-based discrimination in the education system.

In his letter, Gandhi highlighted the discrimination BR Ambedkar faced during his life.

"Here he describes an incident during a long bullock cart journey: ‘There was plenty of food with us. There was hunger burning within us; with all this, we were to sleep without food; that was because we could get no water, and we could get no water because we were untouchables.’”

“He tells us about his experience in school: ‘I knew I was an untouchable, and that untouchables were subjected to certain indignities and discriminations. For instance, I knew that in the school I could not sit in the midst of my classmates according to my rank, but I was to sit in a corner by myself,’” Gandhi said quoting Ambedkar.

The Congress leader said Siddaramaiah would agree that what 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 communities face such brutal discrimination in our educational system," Gandhi said.

"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 BR Ambedkar, Rohit Vemula and millions of others have had to endure," Gandhi said in his letter dated 16 April.

Ambedkar had shown that education is the only means by which even the deprived can become empowered and break the caste system, Gandhi said.