ASA - HCU

25/12/2025

In Remembrance of Kilvenmani: 57 Years of Unbroken Resistance

On this day in 1968, the village of Kilvenmani in Tamil Nadu witnessed an inhumane and monstrous display of Caste-Hindu immorality. 44 Dalit agricultural labourers were mercilessly burnt alive merely for demanding fair wages and dignified working conditions. The Naidu landlords set the huts of Dalit villagers on fire, claiming 44 lives, out of which 23 were children and 16 were women. What followed the massacre were several attempts to dilute the gory act of hatred towards landless Dalit agricultural labourers into a mere conflict about wages.

The perpetrators, shielded by caste solidarity and a complicit state, escaped any punishment. The judiciary’s shocking acquittals stand as a permanent indictment of a system built on graded inequality.

As we remember the martyrs of Kilvenmani, we remember the angst of Caste-Hindus in the face of Dalit Assertion and the resolve of the movement for self-respect despite this.

As Ambedkarite students, we reject hollow memorialization. We use this day to Educate, Agitate, and Organize. We invite every conscientious student to break the silences of caste amnesia and understand that the landlords of Kilvenmani are the ideological forebears of today’s oppressors.

Ambedkar Students' Association pays tributes to the martyrs of Kilvenmani and vows to keep alive their struggle for self-respect and land redistribution.

24/12/2025

Manusmriti Dahan Divas

25th December 2025
South Shopcom | 5.00 PM

24/12/2025

Remembering Periyar on his Death Anniversary

"If a larger country oppresses a smaller country, I'll stand with the smaller country. If the smaller country has majoritarian religion that oppresses minority religions, I'll stand with minority religions. If the minority religion has caste and one caste oppresses another caste, I'll stand with the caste being oppressed. In the oppressed caste, if an employer oppresses his employee, I'll stand with the employee If the employee goes home and oppresses his wife , I'll stand with that woman. Overall, Oppression is my enemy" - Thanthai Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (17 Sep, 1879 – 24 Dec, 1973)

ASA remembers E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, the stalwart of the Self-Respect Movement, on his death anniversary.

22/12/2025

ASA Condemns the VB - G RAM G bill (2025) and stands against the MGNREGA repeal

The Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) unequivocally condemns the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025, passed by the Parliament of India in December 2025, which replaces the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). This legislation represents a decisive departure from a rights-based welfare framework towards a centrally controlled, fiscally conditional scheme, thereby undermining the constitutional guarantees of social and economic justice.
MGNREGA was not merely a policy intervention but a statutory recognition of the State’s obligation to ensure livelihood security. It embodied the constitutional vision enshrined under Articles 38, 39 and 41 by guaranteeing employment as a legal right, enforceable through transparent procedures, accountability mechanisms and time-bound wage payments. Also, nearly half of the workers were women, and more than 40 percent belonged to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. By transforming welfare into entitlement, it particularly empowered Dalits, Adivasis, women and landless labourers who remain structurally excluded from formal labour markets.
The newly enacted VB-G RAM G Bill departs from this constitutional morality. By introducing capped financial allocations, norm-based expenditure and discretionary implementation mechanisms, the State absolves itself of legal responsibility towards marginalised communities. Employment under the new framework is neither demand-driven nor judicially enforceable, rendering livelihood security contingent upon administrative discretion rather than constitutional duty.
On 26 January 1950, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar warned that India was entering “a life of contradictions,” where political equality would coexist with deep social and economic inequality. The dissolution of the legally enforceable right to employment guaranteed under MGNREGA through this Bill actively deepens this contradiction. By dismantling a statutory safeguard against economic deprivation, the State perpetuates the very inequality that Ambedkar cautioned would endanger Indian democracy.
A welfare regime that replaces enforceable rights with contingent assurances violates Ambedkar’s insistence that political democracy cannot survive without social and economic democracy. The dilution of MGNREGA’s legal architecture disproportionately harms historically oppressed communities who rely on statutory protections against market exclusion and state apathy.
ASA therefore demands an immediate review of this legislation and the restoration of a rights-based employment guarantee law. Any development model that sacrifices constitutional justice for fiscal convenience stands in direct contradiction to Ambedkar’s vision of an egalitarian, dignified and substantively democratic republic.

18/12/2025

Solution for the Dalit Problem

The letter Rohit Vemula wrote to the then VC Appa Rao on this day Ten years ago





Justice for Rohith Vemula

17/12/2025

On 16 December 2015,
five Dalit research scholars of ASA were socially boycotted
and criminalised,
a deliberate act of caste violence
that led to Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder.

Ten years have passed. Justice has not arrived.
The struggle will not end. We will never forget. We will never forgive.





{Excerpts from ‘Vivek‘ by Anand Patwardhan.
Full documentary : https://youtu.be/KgCwRchxaMc?list=PLklJqvCIo7nR7RT-ipfYy1ckJL9pHN1uf }

16/12/2025

Remembering DR.BOYI BHIMANNA on his Death Anniversary
(19 SEPTember 1911 - 16 DeCEmber 2005)

Dr. Boyi Bhimanna was a famous Dalit Telugu poet, writer, journalist, and academician. Bhimanna was born in a poor Dalit family in Mamidikuduru Village near East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. Besides these covetous talents, he also held several prestigious posts, such as the Director of Andhra Pradesh State Translation Division, a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and a Senate member at Andhra University. He was also a part of the Quit India Movement during the time.

Bhimanna was mainly influenced by the writings and teachings of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, and therefore, most of his writings also reflect the annihilation of caste. His works revolve around the pain and suffering of the oppressed/the downtrodden and the indignation they survive. A popular work of his in this regard titled Gudiselu Kaalipothunnaayi (The Huts are Burning), a prose poem published in 1973, begins with very ironical yet apt verse:

“The huts are burning
Oh! Burning!
Whose huts are they; it is a pity,
Perhaps, they are of Malas and Madigas
Who else has the huts?”

He penned around seventy books in his career, amongst which his notable writings include Naku Telicina Jasuva, Uugadulu, Rajakiya Veerrudu Dr. Khan, Paleru (play), Pilli Satakam, Paleru to Padmasree (auto-biography) and many others. He was a prolific writer not only in Telugu but also in English. Seventh Season is a collection of English poetry that was well received by his audience.

He won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Puraskar for Gudiselu Kaalipothunnaayi in 1975. He was honoured by the Government of India with civilian awards in the country, namely the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan in 1973 and 2001, respectively. Bhimanna was also awarded the title Kala Prapoorna (honorary doctorate), Kala Ratna (Andhra Pradesh Government, 2003), Atma Gauravam Puraskaram (English: Self-Respect Award) (Telugu University conferred a special award in 1996), Raja-Lakshmi Literary Award (Sri Raja-Lakshmi Foundation in Chennai, 1991) and Loknayak Award.

16/12/2025

16th December 2015

5 Dalit Scholars of Ambedkar Students Association, University of Hyderabad - Prashanth, Rohith, Vijay, Sheshiah and Sunkanna were Socially boycotted.

The five Dalit scholars then choose to stay in the open area in the North Shopcom as a form of symbolic protest marking the space as a Velivada (Dalit Ghetto)





Justice for Rohith Vemula

11/12/2025

B. S. Venkat Rao was born on 11 December 1900 to Battula Saianna and Muthemma. He was a key figure in the Dalit Movement that was built in the erstwhile Princely State of Hyderabad. He was the second-generation leader after Bhagya Reddy Varma in the Adi Hindu Movements, which were on the rise. In the year 1919, he joined the Nizam Sagar Project as Assistant Recruitment Officer and later went on to join the Public Works Department. He resigned his job and joined the larger Dalit Movement of Hyderabad.

Venkat Rao worked extensively on education for the oppressed classes and spent a large part of his earnings on the same. In 1936, Rao, along with P. R. Venkataswamy, started the 17th Youth League of Ambedkarites in complete support of the social movement started by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. In recognition of the importance of the Dalit Movement in Hyderabad, Dr. Ambedkar invited Venkata Rao to preside over the Bombay Presidency Mahar Sabha. Recognising his efforts in the social arena, the Nizam honoured him with the title "Khusru-E-Deccan".
Throughout his life, he fought for the liberation of Dalits. He considered education as an important weapon and a voice of protest, and religious practices that lowered the status of individuals irked him the most. Influenced by educational institutions and movements led by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra, he worked for the spread of education among the Dalit youth through many organisations. In an interview, he said, "As long as we (Dalits) continue in Hindu Religion, there is no liberation for us. We shall choose to go for a religion that seeks equality or a new religion altogether."

06/12/2025

Mahaparinirvan Diwas

In Buddhism, ‘parinirvana’ occurs upon the death of someone who has attained nirvana during their lifetime. It implies a release from the world, karma and rebirth as well as the dissolution of the skandhas. According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the death of the Lord Buddha is considered Mahaparinirvana.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, who proclaimed "I will not die a Hindu" embraced Buddhism on 14 October 1956 and became a guiding figure for the Dalit Buddhist movement, inspiring millions to fight for social equality and dignity. His stature and contributions in eradicating untouchability in India were as influential and blessed as Lord Buddha.

On December 6, 1956, Babasaheb Ambedkar attained Mahaparinirvan a few days after completing his work on ‘The Buddha and His Dhamma.’

Considering the persistence of Caste-based inequalities, the Social and economic backwardness of Dalits and the rise of communal polarisation and communalisation of politics, it is necessary that Ambedkar's vision of constitutional morality must supersede religious morality to avoid permanent damage to the Constitution of India.

On December 6th, Mahaparinirvan Diwas ASA HCU honours his extraordinary contributions and reflects on his vision of a just and equitable society.

05/12/2025

Film Screening - Homebound

On the occasion of Mahaparinirvan Diwas

6th December | 8.30 PM
Velivada ( North Shopcom)

05/12/2025