However, while she was busy ‘playing mother’ Rohith’s mother was being dragged on the streets of Delhi by the police. She went to India Gate with other well wishers to pay respects to Rohith, in a candle light procession. She was dragged by the police and later detained by the Delhi police along with others.
Worth remembering what Arun Jaitley, current #2 in the government, had to say about the right to dissent.
PS: Rohit Vemula’s mother, who along with some of his friends is addressing a press conference in Delhi as I write this, asks Smriti Irani and Narendra Modi a couple of pertinent questions:
“I want to meet Smriti Irani and ask her ‘On what basis did you declare my son to be anti-national? Your Ministry had written that my 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. Should I say it is because you got false certificates for your educational qualifications that you think others do so too? You stopped my son’s stipend, you got him suspended from the university. You are the Minister for HRD, but you have no value for education. You can never understand how difficult it is for a Dalit to reach the stage of doing his PhD. You can never imagine the hardship, the struggle, the tears and sacrifice to reach that position. In three months, you destroyed what it had taken me 26 years to build. I am talking about my Rohith, he died at the age of 26.'”
“I want to tell her these words. I want to ask Modi ji, ‘For five days you remained silent. You went to Ambedkar University and when students protested you said ‘Bharat Mata has lost a son’. If you believe what you say, then why have you not taken action against those who called that son anti-national. Who is right? Is the Minister right? If so, then why did the Prime Minister call an anti-national India’s son? Who will give me these answers?’
#TIL, that Rohit Vemula had informed the vice chancellor of his intent to commit suicide, three full days before he hanged himself.
Vemula’s friend also produced a letter the scholar had written to the vice-chancellor of the university on December 18, in which he said he was going to commit suicide. “I want your highness to make preparations for euthanasia for students like me,” he said, quoting from the letter. Claiming that Irani had a copy of the letter, he questioned why she was reluctant to bring up the statements he made against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
