Opposition wants Smriti Irani to apologise
Opposition wants Smriti Irani to apologise
Union human resources development minister Smriti Irani and BSP supremo Mayawati engaged in a verbal duel on Friday after a similar scene had taken place in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week over Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide. Ms Mayawati said she was not convinced by the HRD minister’s statement with regard to Vemula’s suicide.
The Upper House also saw the Opposition demanding an apology from Ms Irani for reading out “objectionable” comments against Goddess Durga. Defending her action, Ms Irani said she did it because she was asked for proof to back her statements about JNU students. Ms Irani also made it clear that she “is a practising Hindu and a worshipper of Durga” while the Chair ruled that nothing blasphemous would be allowed to remain in the records.
The House also saw a clash between Ms Irani and the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury when the latter took on the minister for quoting certain Facebook posts purportedly written by Vemula which were critical of the CPI(M) leader and accused her of making “all foul fair”.
Ms Irani was replying to Wednesday’s discussion on the JNU and Vemula incidents when the Upper House had witnessed a clash between Ms Irani and Ms Mayawati over the same issue.
Ms Mayawati, who had demanded the inclusion of a dalit in the panel probing Vemula’s death, slammed the Centre for appointing a one-man judicial commission of former Allahabad high court judge Ashok Kumar Roopanwal. “On February 24, I had asked this question and it has not been answered so far. Justice Roopanwal is from the upper caste. Government’s intention is dubious on this,” said the BSP supremo. Adding that if the government wants it can increase the strength of the commission to add a dalit member, but its intention is to try to save the accused “who are from the RSS”.
Ms Mayawati also maintained that Ms Irani had on Thursday apologised for her behaviour when they met in the Parliament lobby, but Ms Irani maintained that she could reply to her but would not like to make public what had happened in the lobby.
Later, questioning the veracity of the Facebook account that Ms Irani had claimed to be that of Vemula, Mr Yechury contended that he was not against any criticism but the authenticity of Vemula’s Facebook comments against him need to be ascertained.
At this, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley interjected, saying “every word” read out by the HRD minister has been authenticated by the registrar of the university. To this, Mr Yechury said the government had got these authenticated by vice-chancellors and registrars appointed by them.
“Yesterday she (Irani) quoted from Macbeth saying fair is foul and foul is fair. She is making all foul fair without giving any authentication,” Mr Yechury said. The CPI(M) leader also hit back at the BJP-led Central government over the controversial reference to Goddess Durga, asking whether questions like “Who is a good Hindu ” would be asked and “whether they will give certificates”.
Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien assured Mr Yechury that he would look into the documents and check their authenticity.
Earlier, while replying to questions raised by Ms Mayawati on Vemula not getting fellowship payments, Ms Irani said the scholar’s last fellowship payment was stopped as he was asked to file some documents. She also termed as “baseless” the allegation that no one from a Scheduled Caste is a member of the Hyderabad Central University’s Proctorial Board.
The minister said Vemula’s mother had spoken to her and sought a judicial inquiry and that she had assured her that the government had set up a judicial commission which is probing the circumstances that led to Vemula committing suicide.
Earlier, when the House met for the day, deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said the Constitution and rules do not permit anything to be spoken in the House which is blasphemous and can hurt religious sentiments. He said the minister on Thursday had read out “insulting” comments made against Goddess Durga “verbatim” in the House, hurting sentiments. He sought a ruling from the Chair on whether such comments made outside Parliament against any religious figure, prophet or deity can be read in the House. The JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi then demanded that the minister apologise unconditionally for the comments read out by her, which was supported by members of other Opposition parties.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad also termed it a “very serious issue” and said the “minister should apologise for what she said yesterday”. He said while there were campaigns against many religious figures, the same language could not be used in the House.
However, Ms Irani asserted that she had only read authenticated documents of the university. “I had been asked to explain what is the proof (against JNU students)... I would also like to say I am myself a practising Hindu. I am myself a Durga worshipper. I say it with a lot of pain that what is the free speech that certain political entities are giving respectability to (sic),” she said.
Seeking to turn the tables on the Congress, she said that “they have absolutely no problem in supporting these very statements but they have problems in her reading out authenticated documents related to what they supported”.
Coming to his colleague’s defence, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked the Congress and other Opposition parties, saying it had become a pattern for them to seek discussions and apologies in every session while showing no interest in legislative business.
He also said that the Congress was raising the issue as its vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, was criticised for supporting those indulging in activities against the nation.
Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien then said there is a tradition that nothing blasphemous or anything against any community will be raised in the House. He assured members that he would go through the records and expunge anything blasphemous.
