Tension prevailed in the University of Hyderabad (UOH) campus here on Tuesday with students staging protest on the first anniversary of the suicide by a Dalit research scholar, Rohith Vemula.

The city police restricted entry of the outsiders into the campus which sparked off protest near the main gate by the activists of Aam Admi Party and other supporters of Vemula as well as by those who were inside the campus.

In a notification issued on Monday, UoH administration denied permission for outsiders and any programmes by the campus students.

Rohith, who was pursuing his Ph D had resorted to the extreme step on January 17, 2016 after he was debarred from the hostel along with some other students. It triggered a nationwide agitation, with top political leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury, JNU president Kanhaiyya and other descending on the campus and castigating the University and the Narendra Modi Government. They alleged oppression of the Dalit students.

In the controversy surrounding the events, questions were raised on the role of the Union HRD ministry, which was projected as putting pressure to take action on the Dalit students by frequent reminders to the Vice-Chancellor, P Appa Rao based on Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya’s complaint to HRD Minster Smriti Irani. The students and opposition parties demanded resignation of the minsters involved and the VC holding them responsible for Vemula’s death.

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