 "Mayawati steals BJP's thunder")
The Home Minister's assurance came at the end of a raucous first working day of the Budget session of Parliament with both the Houses taking up a discussion on the situation in institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Hyderabad.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had planned to corner a united Opposition for allegedly siding with anti-national forces. But the star of the day was Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati when she outfoxed the government by insisting that the issue at the Hyderabad University wasn't that of nationalism but of injustice to Dalit student Rohith Vemula. She said Vemula was victimised and pushed to commit suicide.
The onslaught by the BSP chief left the government searching for answers. Mayawati wanted to know whether the judicial inquiry committee into the suicide of Vemula had any Dalit representation. Ministers pleaded that the BSP chief's query will be answered when Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani replies to the discussion.
Mayawati was unmoved and her party members time and again trooped into the well of the House to force repeated adjournments, accusing the government of being "anti-Dalit". A war of words also ensued between Irani and the BSP chief. "Shouting won't help. Please answer my simple question," Mayawati said. She persisted that Vemula's was a Dalit issue and not that of nationalism.
The Congress, which had also demanded a joint discussion on both Hyderabad University and JNU, sensed its opportunity to government on the mat. It agreed with the BSP chief that the government should first address the concerns of the BSP chief. Mayawati, who is preparing for the Uttar Pradesh assembly election due in early 2017, eventually relented to discuss both issues together when the House convenes on Thursday but after having secured a commitment that her queries on the Vemula suicide will be answered.
It wasn't a coincidence that BJP chief Amit Shah was in Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh today to to unveil the statue of 11th century warrior Suheldev, a ruler still remembered by the most backward 'Rajbhar' community. As legend goes, Suheldev battled and defeated "Muslim invader" Syed Salar Masood Ghazi. By honouring B R Ambedkar and the Rajbhar king, the BJP has been trying to make inroads into what the BSP considers as its support base in UP.
In the Lok Sabha, the Congress demanded that the government take up the discussion today itself. It was earlier decided that the discussion will be taken up after the Railway Budget on Thursday. The discussion was taken up after BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi spoke on the presidential address to the joint sitting, in which she accused the Left parties of being the "witch" in India's growth story and sought to highlight the alleged killings of her party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak (RSS) cadres by the cadres of the Left parties in Kerala.
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Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia initiated the discussion. He said the government was muzzling the voice of the youth in institutions of higher learning.
Trinamool Congress MP Sugata Bose delivered a passionate speech in which he quoted from the writings and speeches of Rabindranath Tagore, Subhas Chandra Bose, Aurobindo as well as the conception of nationalism in the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. He said the BJP's idea of nationalism was of centralized despotism and was "narrow, selfish and arrogant". He demanded the repeal of the sedition law.
In a related development, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has invited leaders of several political parties for lunch on Friday as another effort to ensure smooth passage of the Budget session.
A bill to amend two electoral laws to allow a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal for granting voting rights to people who became Indian citizens following the exchange of enclaves with Bangladesh was introduced in the Lok Sabha today.