Ants Among Elephants has received the following accolades : A '' New York Times '' review called it " unsentimental , deeply poignant ... '' Ants Among Elephants '' gives readers an unsettling and visceral understanding of how discrimination , segregation and stereotypes have endured . " Gidla declined an invitation to be the key note speaker in a festival called '' We The Women '' , a women-only festival curated by Barkha Dutt . Her refusal was a result of the conference being sponsored by the United Nations , which Gidla said was a " fig-leaf of US imperialism " . She also objected to the participation of Smriti Irani , an Indian politician who was the Minister of Human Resource Development at the time that Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide . " She was instrumental in Rohith 's death . His blood is on her hands . I could n't possibly have participated alongside her , " she said
Rohith Vemula
Suicide of Rohith Vemula
Sujatha Gidla