JNU, Durga and Rohith Vemula: What Opposition didn't say in Parliament to counter Smriti Irani

Madam Speaker,

Let me begin by congratulating the HRD minister for mixing melodrama, mythology and Ashwatthama-truths in Parliament to come up with a heady cocktail of oratory. After watching her performance, I can say that she has proved Shakespeare right by turning Parliament into her stage.

But, more than Shakespeare, her eloquent words remind me of the great Indian shayar Mirza Ghalib and his famous couplet: Tere waade par jiye hum, to ye jhoot jaana, ki khushi se mar na jaate, agar aitbaar hota. (Wouldn't I have died with joy if your promises could be believed).

I could feel her voice tremble when she talked about the death of a "bachcha" in the Hyderabad university. Perhaps somebody forgot to write in her script the exact moment when she was supposed also to cry.

Let me ask her, Madam Speaker, when exactly did the HRD minister realise that the scholar her party and its stormtroopers hounded as "anti-national" was a "bachcha?" Here I would quote Rohith's mother, the woman who lost her child: "Your ministry had written that my Rohith and other Dalit students were anti-national extremists. You said that he is not a Dalit. You accused him of getting a false certificate. Should I say it is because you got false certificates for your educational qualifications that you think others do so too? You stopped my son's stipend, you got him suspended from the university. You are the minister for HRD, but you have no value for education. You can never understand how difficult it is for a Dalit to reach the stage of doing his PhD. You can never imagine the hardship, the struggle, the tears and sacrifice to reach that position. In three months, you destroyed what it had taken me 26 years to build."

Madam, I heard the honourable minister literally put her neck on the line in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a query by Behenji (I hope I am not labelled a sexist for calling Mayawati ji that instead of aunty) when she announced: "Agar mere uttar se aap santusht na ho to main apna sar kalam karke aapke charnoon main chhod doongi." (If you are not satisfied with my reply, I will cut of my head and place it at your feet).

I humbly advise the honourable minister to not make such dramatic promises to Rohith's mother if and when she summons the courage to face her and tries to answer her questions. Outside our Parliament, people may take such bravado seriously.

I was amused when the HRD minister said "koi meri jaati pooch kar to dekho." It is very nice to hear that you do not wish to propagate the varna system espoused in Manu Smriti, a treatise whose name you have begun to somehow find unparliamentary. But, isn't that a bit ironical when your esteemed colleagues like the foreign minister made Rohith's caste into an issue, the Prime Minister sought votes in the Bihar election by drawing attention to his pichchda status?

I know you are keen to deflect attention from Rohith's background. When an election in Uttar Pradesh is on the horizon and dalit votes are at stake, it suits your party to talk of kamandal (Ram Mandir) than Mandal (castes). But, don't forget, people in this country haven't forgotten that in letter after letter, press conference after press conference, attention was drawn to not just Rohith's jaati, but his mother's past and lineage. Let me remind you that while terrorists were walking down a red carpet in Pathankot, some of the agencies responsible for gathering intelligence on them were more keen to prepare dossiers on Rohith's family and its background.

But, your wisdom is borrowed from the principles of those sitting in a glass chamber and merrily casting stones at other. While you accuse others of using a "bachcha" for politics, you do not blanch with fear while dragging goddess Durga into your deplorable politics.

I know elections are due in West Bengal and Maa Durga is your new Ram Lala and Mahishasur your new Babar. But, pause and think for a moment when you read out graphic details about our revered Goddess in a bid to evoke rage in Bengal. Desist from turning her into a tool of your sectarian politics.

What exactly does the Goddess have to do with the current debate in JNU? For almost four years, dalits and tribals have been arguing their own version of mythology to counter the existing narrative. In 2012, several members of the All India Backward Students Federation (AIBSF) observed Mahishasur martyrdom day on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on Monday evening. Students from other states, including those from Bhim Rao Ambedkar University, Bihar, and Lucknow University participated. The programme saw a discussion on the legend behind Mahishasur, the demon king who was slain by Goddess Durga. At one such event, Dalit leader Udit Raj, who is now a BJP parliamentarian, was also also present.

Again in 2014, tribals and dalits in 15 states spread across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa celebrated the demon king” as a non-Aryan inhabitant and a just king of the land, with Durga representing Aryan invaders.

Do we hear you ordering your mythology brigade lead by the aptly named Bhim Bassi to round them up for sedition? Do we hear the collective howls of bhakts demanding that now Mysore be renamed after some RSS worker or former chief minister Yeddyurappa ji? Do we hear kar sevaks now being neatly lined up as Durga Vahini to take on the advancing armies of demon Mahishasur? Can we see you mounting a steed to battle the new straw man you have created? Will you now demonise Udit Raj?

Madam Speaker, I will not argue with the minister over her claims that Rohith could have been saved if he were examined by a doctor in time or that the "sedition" case on JNU students is based on solid evidence. On this, I will just advise the minister to hire a speech writer, not a script writer high on fiction and mythology, someone who noticed my left hand when I complimented you for turning Parliament into your stage.

Since you ended your speech with the words of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's speech, let me do the same by reminding you of your Raj Dharma, that's Dharma with an H, instead of hounding students, dalits, intellectuals, teachers and liberals, pitting Indians against Indians, mythology against history and turning Goddesses into election themes.

There is nothing more hypocritical than making a mother cry and then choking with emotion in Parliament over her son's death. There is nothing more ant—national than turning mere "bachchas" into pawns for your politics of pseudo-nationalism.

For your sake, I shall pray, Asato Ma Sad Gamaya, Tamaso Ma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityor Ma Amritam Gamaya.

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Smriti Irani takes on Opposition, says she is being targeted

Under intense attack, HRD Minister Smriti Irani today made a forceful statement in Lok Sabha, saying Kanhaiya Kumar and some other students had been found indulging in anti-national activities by the JNU authorities themselves.

She also made an emotional pitch with regard to the suicide by Dalit student Rohith Vemula of Hyderabad University, 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.

Replying to the charged day-long debate on recent incidents in JNU and Hyderabad University during which the government faced opposition onslaught, a combative Irani said she was being targeted by Congress for contesting against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi Parliamentary constituency.


"I will not seek forgiveness for doing my duty...you (Congress members) never wanted to listen to my reply," she said aloud, as the Congress members, Left parties and Trinamool Congress staged a walkout as she was speaking.

During last 20 months as Minister, Irani said she tried to do justice to students by trying to address their complaints without asking for their "caste or religion".

Rejecting the charge of saffronising education, she said, she would quit politics if it was established she made any attempt to do so.

Most of the vice chancellors are Congress appointees, Irani said, adding she had asked them to listen to the students who come from different backgrounds and address their issues.

"Help me build the nation, not destroy it from within," she said stressing, "I respect your patriotism, don't demean mine... I have my idea of India...don't demean it. ..

Citing documents, she said, report by JNU's security people observed that some students were indulging in anti-national sloganeering even though the students had sought permission to hold a "poetry" event.

Those involved in the programme which include Umar Khalid, Kanhayia Kumar and others, she said, were suspended by the JNU authorities though they were allowed to stay on the campus till completion of the inquiry.

Earlier too, Irani said some students and professors had taken out rallies in support of Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his role in attack on Parliament, and burnt the effigy of Home Ministry.

Hanging of Afzal Guru was described by the activists as "judicial murder", she said, adding it amounted to rising against Supreme Court and the Indian state.

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