Launching a blistering attack on Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani over the ongoing unrest at Srinagar's National Institute of Technology (NIT), the Congress Party on Thursday alleged that the ruling dispensation is interfering in higher educational institutions to make them the mouthpieces of the BJP and RSS.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said it's a controversy created out of mess that Irani has shaped in the HRD Ministry.
"And the HRD Ministry and the BJP Government are completely failing policies. They have started interfering in higher educational institutions to make them nothing but mouthpieces of the BJP and the RSS which is not possible," Dikshit told ANI here.
"So, it is a complete mess that they have created. There is a saying that 'when you dig holes for others you yourself fall into it' that has happened precisely with Smriti Irani ji," he added.
Asserting that the safety of the students at the NIT in Srinagar was her prime concern, Irani yesterday said that her ministry officials are in the varsity campus to ensure that all issues are looked into.
"Law and order is a state subject. I have spoken to Mehbooba Mufti ji, she has assured me that students are safe there and that a division level inquiry has been initiated. Some students are worried about their mark sheets. The HRD officials are in the campus and they have spoke to over 500 students," Irani told the media.
"Our officials are there to extend all possible help to the students, they will stay there till the exams are over," she added.
A fact-finding team of the HRD Ministry visited the institute's campus yesterday for an on the spot assessment of the situation.
The two-member team comprising a Director level and a Deputy Secretary level officer also spoke to the students to get their version of the events.
Tension simmered in the NIT campus last week after India lost the World T20 semi-final to the West Indies.
Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after India's defeat.
