HRD Minister Smriti Irani today made a strong defence of controversial decisions like scrapping of the FYUP and asking IITs to seek her ministry's advise on MoUs, as she rejected the charge of saffronisation, saying her government was bound by the Constitution.
Reeling out statistics to drive home her point that spending in education during the Narendra Modi government is more than the previous UPA regime, she attacked the opposition for accusing her of appointing Hindutva scholars to academic bodies, saying many of them are assosiated with the Left and Congress as well.
Irani's combative response came during a debate on Demands for Grants for the HRD Ministry, in which she singled out Sugata Bose (TMC), drawing sharp reaction from his party members who demanded an apology which was outrightly rejected by her.
Taking on Bose and Sushmita Dev (Cong) for their claims of appointing people with 'saffron' ideology to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), she said scholars like Purabi Roy, associated with CPI, and Sacchidananda Sahai, a close associate of Congress leader Santosh Mohan Dev, too were appointed to the body.
Irani said the ministry intervened in Delhi University's decision to introduce a four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) as the 40-odd courses were not sanctioned by the President.
"The programme would have produced 77,000 students (each year) with degrees without any worth. Had they been on the streets, were we ready to meet that situation? ... If I have protected their future, why are they hurt," she asked, taking a dig at leaders of some opposition leaders.
On the charge of saffronisation of education, she said her government was committed to spreading education "within the limits prescribed by the Constitution".
"The Prime Minister had given this assurance. I am repeating it on the floor of the House," she said.
Referring to Shashi Tharoor's (Cong) claims that funds have remained unspent in the ministry, she said while in 2013-14, the utilisation was 92.9 per cent, it had increased to 97.69 per cent in 2014-15.
Responding to charges that government was interfering with MoUs being signed by institutions like IITs, she wondered why the UPA government was silent when the Delhi IIT had signed an agreement to open a campus in Mauritius using "taxpayers' money." She only went by the law passed by Parliament, she said.
