Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday demanded that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi apologize for “politicizing” the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad University student who died in 2016, as the police of a state governed by his own party. It is not a “Dalit problem”, news agency PTI reported.
The Telangana police filed a closure report in court following an investigation into the suicide of Rohith Vemula, alleging that he was not a Dalit and committed suicide because he feared that his real identity would be discovered.
Speaking to a select group of journalists in Pune, Sitharaman pointed out that the police report was filed in a Congress-ruled state.
“The closure report says that he had a wrong certificate of SC (Scheduled Caste), and he was not SC. But, Vemula’s family was dragged and paraded in the country when he was grieving. The Congress, by dragging the family of “Vemula in public tried to politicize the issue. Look at the statements made by Rahul Gandhi then in Parliament that Vemula was under pressure,” the Union Minister said, PTI reported.
Gandhi should listen to the speeches he made then in the Lok Sabha and apologize to the country, the BJP leader said.
“He should also apologize to the SC community for misusing them. It was not a Dalit issue, but (Gandhi) made it look like a Dalit issue. Now he directs ‘Mohabbat ki Dukan’, but back then then he directed ‘dukan’ toxic, and for that he should apologize,” he added, PTI reported.
Later, speaking on “the role of higher education in realizing the vision of ‘viksit Bharat’ at the city’s Deccan College and interacting with students after the talk, Sitharaman said that the University of Hyderabad was not allowed the subject to be handled with sensitivity.
A narrative was built that the government is repressive, against the students and against the SC, he stated, adding that “today the same people who dragged that unfortunate family to the street must stand up before the entire country and apologize for having politicized the incident”. “reported PTI.
The wrong narrative came from “vested interest groups, a self-proclaimed left-liberal group, a self-proclaimed leader in the opposition, saying `mohabbat ki dukan,'” he said.
“He really perpetrated this issue, he spoke so badly in Parliament about his interpretation (of the incident),” Sitharaman alleged, PTI reported.
When she said that rigorous research will have to be done with methodology, with data and without getting confused with the political narrative, that was what she meant, the minister told the students.
“The issue that could have been addressed amicably within the university, without dishonoring any particular student or family, was dragged onto the streets of the country and accusations were leveled against the then Minister of Education and the central government, as it was a university center,” he said. , reported PTI.
Intolerance, political interference and hatred are not the fault of the government but of vested interest groups who “do not miss the opportunity to bring this toxin to higher education centres”, Sitharaman said, reported PTI.
“We all respect the Dalit cause. The reservation given by the Constitution is an affirmative support,” he added.
(With input from PTI)