Rohith Vemula contains multitudes. The 26-year-old Dalit scholar, who committed suicide earlier this year sparking off a massive movement, wrote in his final note that the value of a man had been "reduced to his immediate identity", At the Justice for Rohith march, which wound its way through central Delhi on Tuesday, Vemula wasn't simply a Dalit who committed suicide.
For those marching, Vemula wasn't just fighting against casteism. He was also a symbol of those who have criticised and dissented against this government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He was also a nationalist – a greater lover of this nation than the people who accused him, and now others, of being anti-national. He was also against the sedition law, as they said he would have been if he had lived to see the Jawaharlal Nehru Movement.
"Rohith is also Kanhaiya Kumar. Kalburgi was also killed like him," said Dharmapal Peehal, a former head of Osmania University's Hindi department, who traveled from Hyderabad to the national capital to march for Vemula. "Rohith is also Akhlaq", a reference to the Muslim man who was lynched in Dadri in September on the suspicion that he and his family had beef in their fridge.
Thousands of students from across the country poured into central Delhi, gathering at Ambedkar Bhawan, under the statue of the Independence movement hero who spent his life fighting the establishment. Chants of "azaadi" rang out, despite the atmosphere over the previous weeks that saw news channels attempting to turn the phrase into something ominous.
But the protest also featured more than the usual number of Indian flags, which protesters admitted was intentionally done so that no one could accuse them of being anti-national.
The march made its way through New Delhi, before ending at Jantar Mantar, where it would be somewhat hijacked by politicians: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury all made appearances alongside Vemula's mother and Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar.
The protest eventually petered out at Jantar Mantar as the politicians got to their speeches, but on the way the breadth of the issues on offer made it clear how big of a symbol Vemula has become.
