Irani also rubbished allegations that Rohith was persecuted because he was a Dalit.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the meeting, “The government is working fine and has a lot to show”.
His reference to “vandalism” was to the incidents on February 15 of some students and media persons being roughed up at Patiala House courts complex where Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested for sedition, was being presented before a judge. Rohith Vemula was a Dalit scholar of HCU who committed suicide inside University of Hyderabad hostel room on January 17 after being allegedly targeted by the university and the Hindutva outfits.
She read a statement posted on October 4, 2014 by the SC, ST and minority students of JNU, which said “Durga Puja is the most controversial racial festival, where a fair-skinned handsome goddess Durga is depicted brutally killing a dark-skinned native called Mahishasur”.
He said: “The government has the mindset of damaging people who hold different mindset from them”. Here’s what she said. Days before he killed himself, Vemula had been expelled from the hostel following a run-in with a leader from ABVP, the student wing of BJP.
She also demanded the inclusion of a Dalit member in the judicial committee probing into the issue.
Irani’s statement suggests she could have been referring to the time the police were “allowed” to do something, not the time they arrived. She then took out a pamphlet which she said was written by the students praising Mahishasur.
When the house met again, members agreed to take up the debate on Thursday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister of State Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi insisted that the discussion, slated for the afternoon, on the entire controversy be preponed urging the BSP leader to wait for the government response.
Kurien said subject raised by Mayawati is already included in list of business and can be taken up now and the government will reply to it. But BSP members were unrelenting, forcing him to adjourn the House for 10 minutes.
“JNU AN EXCUSE TO DIVERT FROM ROHITH” Many students participating in the solidarity march for Rohith felt the JNU sedition case was an attempt by the government to divert attention from his suicide and persecution of Dalits.
The government’s undue “interference which is not sanctioned by the law” in the working of the educational institutions is aimed at promoting their agenda of Hindu Rashtra, he said while initiating a debate on the issue. “Where in the world can you see a HRD minister writing five letters in any case”, he said. “There should have been yes or no answer”, Mayawati said.
But the protesting members didn’t relent and continued with their slogan shouting near the chairman’s podium.
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Condemning the caste politics by opposition, she stumped them by saying, “My name is Smriti Irani”. She did not say whether she sent a note to the Central University of Hyderabad in connection with Dattatreya’s letter.
