Radhika Vemula, whose young son Rohith committed suicide at a university in Hyderabad in January, held top honours as she unfurled the national flag this morning at the grounds of a large state-run school in Una. The small town in Gujarat has turned into a national focal point after four young Dalits were tied to a car, stripped and flogged after being wrongly accused of killing a cow last month.
In Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the country, underscored the importance of social harmony and his government's commitment to upholding the rights of the weakest sections of society.
Also present today was Kanhaiya Kumar, the student from Jawaharlal Nehru University who was infamously arrested on charges of sedition in February.
Before he hanged himself, Mrs Vemula's son, a PhD scholar, alleged continued persecution by campus officials on account of him being a Dalit. Mr Vemula's death and Mr Kumar's arrest drove twin student movements against the government in the first half of the year.
A section of those who were present marched nearly 400 kilometres to Una from Ahmedabad, where their demonstration began 10 days ago. They insist that their yatra or march is apolitical and aims at delivering basic rights to Dalits - like land that was allocated but never handed over to Dalit farmers. If that is not done in a month, the leaders of the protest warned, they will organize large demonstrations.
They were joined today by Muslims from Una and other parts of the state, who said they wanted to express their solidarity with Dalits.
Last weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised cow vigilantes or "gau rakshaks," stating most use religion as a cover for crimes that have nothing to do with protecting the cow, which is held sacred by Hindus. The vigilantes chase trucks transporting cattle and raid slaughter houses.
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