Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has slammed the Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and her party for ‘cultivating lies.’
Attacking Irani for her ‘lies’ on Rohith Vemula in the parliament, Kumar said, “Ek mantri ne sansad mein kah diya ki Rohith Vemula ko bachaya ja sakta tha doctor ko nahi pahuchne diya. Sansad mein jhuth bola gaya. Ye log jhuth bolne mein maahir hain, jhuth ki kheti karte hain. (One minister told in the parliament that Rohith Vemula could have been saved as doctors were not allowed to reach there. Lies were spoken inside the parliament. These people are experts on speaking lies. They cultivate lies.)”
Bihar CM’s criticism comes after several opposition parties decided to bring a privilege motion against Irani for ‘misleading’ the parliament on Rohith Vemula’s suicide.
Congress along with CPI(M) and JD(U) had accused Irani of “wilfully misleading” Parliament during a debate on JNU and Hyderabad University controversies.
“The HRD Minister has not only been economical with truth but has also wilfully misled Parliament on the unfortunate suicide of Rohith Vemula,” Congress leaders Mukul Wasnik and Selja alleged.
Wasnik told reporters that the Congress planned to bring privilege motion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha soon, while CPI(M) leader Mohd. Saleem said he would be doing so on Monday.
“I will be giving a notice for breach of privilege against Ms. Irani to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for misleading the House on Rohith Vemula issue,” Saleem said.
They cited the outburst of Radhika, Rohith’s mother, against the HRD Minister and accused the BJP of being anti-Dalit.
Radhika had attacked the HRD Minister questioning as to on what basis did she declare Rohith to be anti-national?
“Your Ministry had written that my son 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.”
They alleged that these strong words from a mother “who has lost her son to BJP and in particular the HRD Minister’s campus politics is a stamp of how recklessly and ruthlessly their party is hell bent on clamping down the voices of dissent.”
(Inputs from PTI)