Just two days after Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s fiery speech in the parliament over Rohith Vemula’s suicide, his friends and family dismissed the minister’s statements in a press conference on Friday in the national capital.
The following are the points made by Rohith’s friends and mother:
· HRD Minister is giving false statements in parliament
· Rohith being quoted selectively
· Need SIT to probe the matter
· There is already a caste certificate which states that Rohith belonged to SC
· No SC/ST representative Inquiry Committee, contrary to Smriti Irani's claim
· Chief warden was a Dalit but not part of any inquiry
· I demand an explanation as to how my son became anti-national and extremist
· Smriti Irani is lying and diverting issue, he never received the stipend for seven months
· PM Modi said India has lost her son.Want to ask him,If India has lost her son,same son was branded as anti-national
Irani had alleged politicization by the opposition parties over the suicide of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula. ‘’Rohith’s body was used as a political tool, a doctor was not allowed to visit him till 6:30 next morning. I spoke about him (Rohith Vemula) as a kid and not as a Dalit student.,’’ she said on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Union Ministers Thawar Chand Gehlot & Smriti Irani claimed that Rohith Vemula is not a Dalit.