Dalit scholar suicide: Blame game grows, stir reaches Karnataka

Outcry and blame game over the issue of Dalits grew.

Leaders of rival political formations projected themselves as the champions for the cause of deprived and downtrodden. 

Irate students continued their protests on the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus against the tragedy. 

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Trinamool  Congress leader  Derek O'Brien, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi and many other prominent 

leaders had so far visited the campus to voice their concern over the issue and many more were scheduled to come.

The stir also made inroads in Karnataka as hundreds of the Dalit  Sanghatane  Samanvaya Samiti activists took out a protest march demanding stringent punishment for the culprits, a report from Kalaburagi said.

The protesters burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani.

Reacting to the storm over the tragic suicide, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya clarified  that he had no role in the administration of the University.

In a statement, Mr Dattatreya expressed his deep shock over the death of the Dalit scholar and extended condolences to his family and wished them the strength to withstand and overcome the tragic loss. 

''Apart from being a Union Minister, I, am also an elected member of  Parliament from Secunderabad constituency..,..Since my entry into politics in 1980?s, I have always been a leader connected to the masses and to all sections of the society on a daily basis, whether or not in any position of power'',  he said. 

In a clarification, Mr Dattatreya said that on August 10, last year,  he received a representation on the state of affairs in the University of Hyderabad which disturbed him greatly. '' I forwarded it to the MoHRD in the hope that things in the campus would change for better. 

'' On August 29,  I received a second representation in this and this, too, I forwarded to the MoHRD with a request, to look into the matter and do the needful,'' he said and adding that the University of Hyderabad was an autonomous institution with established procedures.? I have no role in the administration of the University.

My role was only limited to forwarding these two representations. I would have happily forwarded representations of any other student body, if they were to have approached me,'' Mr Dattatreya added.

I hope the matter will now rest with this clarification,'' he added. In the national capital, Ms Irani also presented a strong case in favour of her cabinet colleague and defended him and herself too in allegations being leveled by the opposition.

"This case is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue as was being portrayed by some sections to ignite passions among students.''

Stating that the matter was under investigation, Ms Irani displayed a copy of the suicide note left by Vemula, saying it had been certified by police and the contents did not blame any university official or any organisation for taking the extreme step.

Relating the sequence of events, she defended the reminders sent by her ministry to the University of Hyderabad on the basis of a complaint by Union Minister Dattatreya as standard procedure followed even in the case of another MP Hanumantha Rao, who had also reacted to the spate of suicides in the university, including of Dalit students, over the past few years. 

Ms Irani said she had been compelled to come out with the facts after a ''malicious campaign to ignite passions'' and set forth the facts.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu,  who was in Mangaluru, also endorsed the stance of the two Ministers and expressed his strong displeasure over the ongoing protests and campaign over the issue.

Mr Naidu said, ?Opposition Congress and CPI were taking out a disinformation campaign based on derail, divert and disrupt the real facts over the suicide by the researcher''.

He said the tragedy was being politicised. The opposition has been stalling important Bills, it has been diverting people?s attention from development and disrupting Parliament. 

They bid to project the Prime Minister as a failure..,..But they should understand that in turn they are failing the nation,"the Minister asserted.