CNN IBN Primetime debated the issue of the factually incorrect information on Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide that was provided by Smriti Irani on the second day of the ongoing parliament session.
Read what HRD minister Smriti Irani said regarding Vemula’s suicide.
The ‘facts’ however, were proven to be very misleading when moderator Zakka Jacob asked Dr Rajshree, the doctor on duty at HCU, to recount the details of the incident after she got a phone call informing her of Vemula’s suicide.
I got a call at 7:20 pm. It took me five minutes to reach there. It took me ten minutes to examine Rohith and declare that he is dead. He had been dead for two hours and was not in a position to be revived. I was in the room where Rohith committed suicide for 40 minutes. Nobody stopped the police. Nobody hid the body.Dr. Rajshree, Doctor on Duty on the day Rohith Vemula committed suicide
Dontha Prashanth, who was also expelled along with Rohith, agreed with the factual correctness of the doctor’s account.
The moderator then asked BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Bhartendra Singh, to clarify whether or not Irani’s claims account for a breach of privilege in the parliament.
Bhartendra Singh provided a total of three sets of justifications on behalf of the BJP, each varying from the last as the debate proceeded.
He said that Irani did mistakenly provide the wrong details, which were immediately corrected by Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP Jitendra Reddy.
Jacob corrected him saying that Reddy had only clarified why Telagana’s Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao couldn’t receive calls on time on account of being busy over election duty.
More than being a misleading statement it was an emotional statement, she was speaking as mother who was being cornered.Bhartendra Singh, BJP MP
I think she was referring to a larger problem, when any such incident happens people gather – political tourism starts immediately. A doctor’s report and police post mortem is different. We know in such incidents post mortem is delayed.Bhartendra Singh, BJP MP
As Congress leader from Telangana, MG Yaskhi, called Smriti Irani not a mother but a “step mother” countless times while implying that she’s a very good “actor” who misled the whole nation and committed a crime, columnist Vir Sanghvi said:
I don’t think it was an attack on any political party. It was an attack on his friends, who (according to Irani) let him die. But why such accusation? Clearly she was misinformed. She said Telangana police report, question is, is there such a report?
Zakka Jacob then pointed that there was an odd similarity between Rohith’s and Kanhaiya’s case.
It is the same story, that is extremely worrying can it be a coincidence that the victim in both the incidents were extremely poor people and broken down by system. Isn’t the BJP worried? With the elections coming up, do they want to send the message that they’re enemies of the poor and friends of goons?Vir Sanghvi, columnist
The moderator also questioned why PM Modi has been maintaining his silence throughout these incidents that have shaken the nation, while updating Irani’s entire speech, word by word on Twitter, ending it with “Satyamev Jayate”.
Jacob concluded the debate by asserting that the truth shall indeed prevail.
Government Intimidating Institutions With Kanhaiya’s Arrest: Shashi Tharoor
NDTV’s The Buck Stops Here had an intelligent debate with Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor discussing their party’s stand about the JNU and Rohith issue.
Both sides tried to defend their party’s stand. Prakash Javdekar said that the slogans raised at JNU were not only condemnable, but also cognizable. He raised a question time and again asking if the government was wrong for investigating the slogans raised in JNU.
To this, Shashi Tharoor said that although an investigation was acceptable, Kanhaiya’s arrest before complete a investigation reflects the government trying to intimidate universities and institutions.
He clarified that Congress leaders went to JNU to support the freedom of the student leader, who never expressed any anti-national slogans and being a student leader, he should be given the freedom to express his stand even if it is against the government’s ideology.
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