BJP seeks probe into funding for Hyderabad varsity protests

BJP today asked the government to probe the source of funding behind the ongoing agitation of student groups in the University of Hyderabad following Rohith Vemula's suicide and questioned how they were able to pay for tent and "lavish parties" every day.

It continued to target Congress and the Left parties for "politicising" the Dalit scholar's death, attacking the former's Vice President Rahul Gandhi for not visiting Kerala where a Dalit girl was raped and murdered and the latter for "never" putting a Dalit in the leadership position.

Party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told a press conference that the Joint Action Committee of 14 student groups were paying Rs 5,000 per day for tent and having lavish parties.

Their protests have been going on since January 17 when Vemula ended his life.

"I will definitely seek intelligence report and ask the government to probe the funding pattern and see if there are any external influences because this Congress-Communist network has conducted its business in academics in this fashion and manner," Lekhi said.

She took a dig at CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury over his demand that Dalits be given quota in private sector jobs, saying his party never put a Dalit in its Politburo in the last 51 years.

She quoted reports to allege that the Left parties were responsible for 51,000 political murders in West Bengal.

"Dalits were always used as foot soldiers but never given leadership," she said.

She wondered if there was a pattern behind agitations in a number of institutions like FTII, JNU and University of Hyderabad.

She blamed those, including faculty members, close to Vemula for not "understanding" or "treating" his depression.