Jammu: Amidst the ongoing blame game between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress post the suicide of a Dalit scholar at the University of Hyderabad, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said the Centre should get the matter investigated in the best faith of democracy before it blows out of proportion.
"It is a major tragedy for us and I think the Central Government in the best faith of democracy should get it investigated. At whatever authority and whatever level they want to, it must be investigated immediately so that the heart burns that are all over the nation in the younger students will come to rest, otherwise this will blow out of proportion and then it will be difficult to control," Abdullah told ANI.
Facing sharp criticism over the suicide of Dalit scholar at the University of Hyderabad, Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani today attempted to shift the blame on the previous UPA regime and said things would have been in place at the moment had the Congress taken action then.
Irani attempted to defend Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya, who has been charged with abetting Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.
The HRD Minister drew the attention of the media to the letter written by Congress MP Hanumantha Rao and said that he wanted a probe to be ordered on the death of students from the Telangana region.
Rao, however, dismissed Irani's charge that he had written a letter demanding a 'probe' to be ordered into the rampant suicides by Dalit students in the University of Hyderabad.
"On 17th November, I wrote a letter to Smriti Irani regarding the issues being faced by the students and employees at the university. I said that there was misappropriation going on and that seven students had committed suicide in three semesters. I also wrote that there were cases of rape and kidnapping occurring regularly besides allegations of illegal transfer of university land," Rao told ANI.
He added that he should have got the reply in 15 days as per the law but now Irani was bringing up his letter from 2014 for her own convenience.
Meanwhile, fierce protests continued at the Hyderabad University over the suicide of Rohith, as students expressed their dissatisfaction with Irani's defence by burning an effigy of the HRD Minister.
