Meanwhile, a day after accusing Irani of misrepresenting facts related to her son’s death, Rahika Vemula met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior Janata Dal (United) leader K.C. Tyagi here today.
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This was in reference to Irani showing her compassion for Rohith in the parliament calling him a child. Union Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani has also been accused of pressuring the university into suspending the five students, although both she and the university have denied the allegations.
We had reported how Hyderabad Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s friend had called Irani’s statements in the parliament a ‘blatant lie’. Not one attempt was made to take him to a doctor. “If police is wrong, then the court can discharge them”, he said adding no innocent student would be harassed.
The Opposition is disputing Ms. Irani’s contentions that a doctor was not allowed to revive Vemula just after the incident – something his mother has disputed – and that there was an SC/ST representative on the proctorial board that had expelled Vemula and four other PhD students, a claim that the expelled students have denied. “What action has the PM taken against him”, Rohith’s friend Prashant questioned.
Rejecting the charge of saffronising education, she said, she would quit politics if it was established she made any attempt to do so.
When the opposition started shouting, she cleverly used the same ploy as used by the Congress saying, “Shall I say that you are stopping me from speaking as I am a woman belonging to a micro-community?”
The HRD minister made an emotional pitch on Vemula’s suicide, insisting that her ministry had no role in his death and the deceased himself had said in his suicide note that nobody should be held responsible for his action.
Wasnik said Radhika Vemula had said that she wanted to meet Irani and ask her about the basis on which her son had been termed “anti-national”.
“The kind of statements that the HRD Minister is giving is confusing”. She hasn’t clarified whether she meant the police weren’t allowed access to the body till 6.30am or whether she meant the police were not allowed to take the body for post-mortem till 6.30am. Cornering minister for these statements, Prashanth said, “This is also false”.
She said the body of Rohit was lying on a cot and police had reached 15 minutes after she had gone to the hostel room on the day he had died after she got information at around 7.20pm that one of the students had attempted suicide. To her, I shall quote Narendra Modi’s “inspiration” Swami Vivekanand on the importance of truth and hope she realises that her speech to save her chair is nothing but a huge disservice to the nation and the responsibility towards her chair.
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Irani said: “I am willing to answer any question”.
