Attacking Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani for 'spreading factually incorrect evidence' with respect to the Dalit scholar suicide in the Hyderabad University, the Congress on Thursday labelled her as 'half educated minister'.
"The HRD Minister yesterday rather resolving the issue started spreading lies. It is uncalled for a minister. She is saying that the Dalit professor was heading the team of the sub-committee of executive council which is blatantly a lie," Congress spokesperson Madhu Yakshi Gaud told ANI.
"The Minister who doesn't understand the difference between a certificate and a degree, what else to expect from a minister half-educated," he added.
Gaud further said that Irani as a minister had misled the nation, saying this is the reason the Dalit professors have resigned from their posts.
"She is spreading factually incorrect evidence," he added.
Meanwhile, ten professors belonging to SC/ST community on Thursday resigned from their administrative posts in the University of Hyderabad (UoH), in response to the 'fabridcated statements' by Union HRD Minister Irani over Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.
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"In response to the Honourable Minister's (Smriti Irani) fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers lay down our administrative positions" said a press statement by UoH SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum.
Irani, had yesterday termed the ongoing protest on Vemula's suicide as 'malicious' the attempt to 'project it as a caste battle'.
"This is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passion," Irani told a press conference, while rejecting allegations that her Ministry had put pressure on the University to suspend Vemula.