Exposing Smriti Irani's lies

Whether you are a supporter of BJP, Congress, AAP or any other party, Union human resource development minister Smriti Irani's thunderous and mesmerising speech in the Rajya Sabha this week caught everyone's attention. The way she articulated her arguments, topped with melodramatic one-liners made it a visual treat.

Speech 1 (February 24, 2016):

 Speech 2 (Feb 25, 2016):

Nonetheless, her claims have been countered by the relevant stakeholders whom she has quoted in her speeches:

1. No one allowed a doctor to go near Rohith Vemula's body:

In her February 24 speech, quoting from a Telangana police report, Irani said, "No one allowed a doctor near this child. Who declared this boy dead? Who was medically equipped to declare this child dead? How many cases go, where an individual tries to hang himself and the vertebra does not break, pulse goes down to 30, 40, and individual can be revived."

This claim was countered by the chief medical officer of University of Hyderabad, Dr M Rajshree:

"Security officials found the body in NRS hostel room. I got a call around 7.20pm and I rushed to the hostel to examine the body. By the time I reached, the body was removed from the ceiling fan. Within 10 minutes, we declared him dead. I also informed the V-C immediately. He asked me whether there was any possibility of reviving Rohith. I was there till 3am that day," said Rajshree in an interview to The News Minute.

2. Teesta Setalvad's book in Don Bosco School, Matunga:

On February 24, Irani also said, "This is a history book for students of class 4 - Teacher's Reader. What are our teachers taught? The author of this book is Teesta Setalvad. This book has been commissioned by UPA's Kapil Sibal. The same UPA whose chairperson is Sonia ji. Let's see what is to be taught to student of class 4. In our text and syllabus, we continue to perpetuate the colonial legacy of portraying ancient India as synonymous with Hindu, and medieval India with the Muslims. When we teach Shivaji, Akbar, Aurangzeb, as responsible educators, we need to ask which Shivaji do we need to take into the classroom. Congress politicians allowed the killings for three days during the Sikh riots. That is also taught."

This claim was countered by the school itself. In an interview to the Indian Express, Father Bernard Fernandes, principal of the school, claimed the handbook was discontinued in 2001. "These were no textbooks but handbooks. These books were used by some of our schools on an experimental basis for a year and were meant for teachers. But they were discontinued immediately after a year they were introduced. Today, none of our teachers use these handbooks."

3. Mahisashur Martyrdom Day:

In her Thursday (Feb 25) speech, she quoted a document from the organisers of the Mahisashur martyrdom day and said, "Mahishasur, a brave self-respecting leader, tricked into marriage by Aryans. They hired a sex worker called Durga, who enticed Mahishasur into marriage and killed him after nine nights of honeymooning during sleep."

However, the student organiser of the Mahishasura event in JNU, Anil Kumar accused the minister of "lying" and denied that the statement she quoted from in Parliament was not "released" by him or his colleagues.

Furthermore, Irani said that, "Today I miss Sugata Bose and Saugata Roy in the House - champions of free speech, because I want to know if they will discuss this particular topic which I am about to enunciate in the House, on the streets of Kolkata. I dare them this."

However, it is known that many tribes in India celebrate Mahisashur Diwas in as many as 15 districts of five states.

4. Fellowship stipend of Rohith Vemula and SC/ST member in the committee:

On Friday, Irani claimed in her speech that Vemula, being a PhD student, was given Rs 3,19,029 as scholarship and the last stipend of Rs 54,000 was given to him November 20, 2015. She said, "There was some money pendency issue. That arose from some paperwork that the deceased was yet to file. That Rohith was devoid of any fellowship money is an incorrect impression."

This claim was countered by Radhika Vemula, Rohith's mother, who in a press conference yesterday, said "Smriti Irani is lying and diverting the issue, he never received the stipend for seven months."

Irani also mentioned that the proctoral board which decided to expel the five Dalit scholars had representation from the SC/ST community and also a woman. The executive council of November 27, which made the decision of not allowing certain students to stay in the hostel also had a specially co-opted member of the SC community who additionally was also the dean of the students' welfare. Hence, the indication that nobody from the SC community was co-opted in any of the processes within the university system is also an incorrect charge.

However, Radhika Vemula countered this fact as well in the press conference and claimed that there was no SC/ST member among the 11 members of the board.