JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav today described the dalit student incident in Hyderabad University a "national shame" and accused the government of working against the interests of students from deprived sections of the society.
Citing a parliamentary committee report, the Rajya Sabha MP said it had raised serious concerns over the lackadaisical approach of the HRD Ministry and UGC as they had failed to take concrete measures to fill up the 27 per cent seats reserved for the OBC community.
"The HRD Ministry confessed that 40 per cent of the reserved category seats continue to remain vacant," he said, adding that lack of support group for dalit students, who face lot of pressure to succeed due to poor background, leads to disproportionately frequent suicides among such students.
"The dismal representation of faculty from suppressed classes of society also contributes to caste discrimination because students from similar backgrounds do not even find support group to hear their difficulties and to give them proper advice," Yadav said in a statement.
"Our heads bow down when the cases of suicide like that of Rohith Vemula happen and it a national shame for us," he said.
He noted that "atrocities, abuses and discrimination" against dalits and backward classes are not new in the country but such incidents are increasing manifold now in universities also. "It is a worrying trend that this caste system has reached central institutions and universities.
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Stepping up the attack on the government on the issue, JD-U demanded immediate resignation of Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya and pitched for a CBI inquiry into the whole episode.
The party has also decided to send a two-member fact- finding team comprising its general secretary K C Tyagi and Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Varma to Hyderabad tomorrow, JD-U general secretary Javed Raza said.
Tyagi alleged that Union Minister of Labour and Employment Dattatreya built "pressure" on HRD Minister Irani on the ABVP student assault incident after which she "pressurised" the Hyderabad University to act.
"Both the ministers should resign from the post to ensure a fair probe so as the Vice Chancellor (Appa Rao)," he added.
Attaching no importance to the fact-finding team sent by the HRD Ministry to look into the issue, Tyagi said that "very junior" persons have been sent to look into the matter.
"We demand a CBI inquiry into the case. We also urge the state government to recommend a CBI probe into it," he said.
