The Rajya Sabha on Friday witnessed another bitter face-off between BSP chief Mayawati and HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who also faced all-round attack from the Opposition over Rohith Vemula’s suicide and some “objectionable” comments that she read out against Goddess Durga on Thursday from a pamphlet distributed in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) recently.
Countering Irani’s fire with fury, Mayawati asked the HRD Minister to chop off her head since the BSP chief was not satisfied with the answer on Rohith Vemula’s suicide. Two days ago, during the course of her statement in the RS, Irani had stated that if her answer would not satisfy Mayawati then she would chop her head off and lay it in front of the Dalit leader.
“Since we are not convinced by the Government’s clarification, will she do that,” Mayawati asked. On Wednesday too, the Upper House had witnessed a clash between Irani and Mayawati over the same issue.
The House also saw a clash between CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and the HRD Minister on the same issue. Yechury took on Irani 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”.
Yechury questioned the veracity of the Facebook account that she had claimed to be that of Vemula. “Can a Facebook account be authenticatedIJ... Can quotes from cyberspace be permitted without the same being authenticated,” he questioned and insisted that nothing should go on record in the House without being authenticated. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley countered Yechury by saying “every word” read out by Irani has been authenticated by the Registrar of the University.
Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien assured Yechury that he would look into the documents and check their authenticity. Yechury also said that Vemula, in his letter written a month before committing suicide, had said that he should be given a rope, which indicated the state of his mind. “What did the university do,” he questioned.
Mayawati, who has been demanding inclusion of a Dalit in the panel probing Vemula’s death, slammed the Government for appointing a one-man Judicial Commission headed by a former Allahabad High Court judge Ashok Kumar Roopanwal.
Replying to questions raised by Mayawati on Vemula not getting fellowship payments, the HRD Minister said the Dalit scholar’s last fellowship payment was stopped as he was asked to file some documents.
“So far the Government has not answered my question whether a Dalit member is part of the commission. On February 24, I had asked this question and it has not been answered as yet. Justice Roopanwal is from the upper caste. The Government’s intention is dubious on this,” she said, adding that as per laws, the Government can increase the strength of the commission and add a Dalit member, but it has not done this so far, which shows its intentions towards the Scheduled Castes.
Irani said Justice Roopanwal was the Judge of Allahabad High Court, which is in a State of which Mayawati was the Chief Minister and he is a noted jurist. Irani also termed as “baseless” the allegations that no one from the Scheduled Caste is a member of the Hyderabad Central University Proctorial Board.
Early in the day peeved over Irani’s “objectionable” comments against Goddess Durga, the Opposition demanded an unconditional apology from her for hurting the sentiments of people.
The Elders also called for expunging the “blasphemous” comments from record and the Chair said he will do so after going through it.
Irani, however, defended her action and said she read out the portion from a pamphlet as she was asked by some Elders to furnish proof to back her statement. The Minister also said she was “a practicing Hindu and worshipper of Durga.”
The issue came up during Zero Hour with Congress leader Anand Sharma demanding an apology from Irani and said the Constitution does not allow making “blasphemous, inflammatory and derogatory” statements. The Minister kept on reading out the objectionable portions from the pamphlet despite repeated pleas to stop from the Elders on Thursday, Sharma claimed.
He said Irani read out “insulting” comments made against Goddess Durga “verbatim” thereby hurting sentiments and sought a ruling from the Chair whether such comments made outside Parliament against any religious figure prophet or a deity can be read in the House.
Members of other Opposition parties also concurred with Sharma with KC Tyagi and Ali Anwar (JD-U), demanding apology from the Minister. Sukhendu Shekhar Roy (TMC) said Goddess Durga was revered throughout the country and derogatory remarks against her should be condemned by one and all. The HRD Minister asserted she only read out authenticated documents of the University.
Rejecting the Opposition demand, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi charged that the Congress and other Opposition parties were not interest in legislative business and were adopting a pattern in the last two to three Parliament sessions insisting for short duration discussion and apology.
He also said Congress was raising the issue as its vice-president Rahul Gandhi was criticised for supporting those indulging in activities against the nation.
As the Treasury and Opposition Benches indulged in heated exchanges, Kurien said there was 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.