Kejri demands Modi to sack Irani, Dattatreya over student's death

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded the sacking of his junior labour minister and HRD minister over the alleged suicide by a harassed Dalit student in University of Hyderabad.

Kejriwal sought a judicial probe into the incident and asked Modi to apologise for it.
The AAP also announced nationwide protests on January 21 for seeking action against University’s Vice-Chancellor, P Appa Rao, Minister of State for Labour, Bandaru Dattatreya and HRD Minister Smriti Irani.

“I strongly urge the Prime Minister to immediately sack the two ministers, order a high level judicial probe and personally tender an apology to the aggrieved family, the Dalit community and the people of this great country,” Kejriwal said in his statement.

“Modi govt constitutionally duty bound to uplift dalits. Instead Modiji’s ministers got five dalit students ostracised n suspended,” he said in a tweet.

“It’s not suicide. It’s murder. It’s murder of democracy, social justice n equality.Modi ji shd sack ministers n aplogoize to the nation,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.

Pointing to the suicide by University researcher Rohit Vemula on January 17, Kejriwal said Modi should ask the crucial question as to “what business do ministers have in interfering in the internal affairs of a University?”

He said Dattatreya and Irani endorsed and abetted a systematic targeting campaign of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s – the student wing of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh - to first socially ostracise five Dalit students at the University, deny them access to library facilities, deprive them of their monthly stipends and finally have them suspended.

“The searing injustice of these actions was such that it finally took the life of Vemula,” he said.

Vemula was among five research scholars who were suspended by the University in
August last year and also one of the accused in the case of
assault on a leader of the ABVP.

Kejriwal said Modi should tell “How can a minister term young, bright students as anti-national, simply because they had an altercation with the ABVP? How can young Dalit students be socially ostracised ad economically penalised by the University administration?”

“The Dalits have a constitutional right to the best opportunities of education and socio-economic advancement. The government is constitutionally bound to protect the fundamental guarantees of the Dalits,” Kejriwal said.

Dattatreya and the University VC were on Monday named in an FIR over the alleged suicide of the researcher.

The Chief Minister also slammed Modi’s inaction earlier when after the death of two Dalit children in Haryana Union Minister of State for External affairs V K Singh allegedly made a controversial statement that the government could not be held responsible if someone stones a dog.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Sanjay Singh announced plans for the party’s agitation on January 21.

Dattatreya misused his political clout to crush Dalit students’ movement in the University and got these students suspended, he said.

“Dattatreya also got the VC to issue orders banning the suspended Dalit students from visiting public places in the university...they were also thrown out of their hostels and were forced to spend nights under the open sky,” said Sanjay Singh.

“On January 21, AAP volunteers will organise protests
in all state capitals demanding immediate sacking and arrest of the University VC and Dattatreya. We also demand that HRD Minister Irani's
role should also be probed,” he said.