Modis response better late than never: Tharoor

It is a clear case of political interference that has caused the death of the student who is an Ambedkar Association activist. That is the trigger that will lead to a major movement in future

Jaipur: Intolerance, suicide of the Dalit student Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University, coming out of the closet, Indo-Pak relations have been recurrent issues that are often re-surfacing despite not being directly on the agenda, during the Jaipur Literature Festival. And it was but evident that the audience that consisted of the youth in majority wanted to find answers to the conflicts plaguing our country.

“The Need to Listen: Dialogue versus Rhetoric” was the subject of discussion and heading the panel was the outspoken Congress MP, author Sashi Tharoor with Susheendra Kulkarni, head of Observer Research Foundation who was assaulted by throwing ink for organising the book launch of Pakistan Foreign Minister, noted activist who quit the Indian Administrative Services to work for Dalits in Tamil Nadu, Pinky Anand, lawyer and former spokesperson for BJP and Syed Salman Chishty, a hereditary custodian of the 11th century Sufi shrine of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Hassan Chishty.

Pinky seemed to be carrying the baggage of her party as she called the increasing climate of intolerance, as a perception and that there is an attempt to perpetuate the same. Answering to Sashi Tharoor’s comment on how the Dalit student’s death in Hyderabad is not just limited to Hyderabad and is an indication of systematic sense of persecution and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response to the same is better late than never, she commented on the Dalit student’s suicide and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s delayed response, “If PM takes two days to say something, you will ask why not in one day, and if the PM responds in a day you will say he should have done it immediately – there is no end for such a discussion.

And, you cannot classify the death as a Dalit death, OBC or Christian. The death is unfortunate, but why do we have to classify it. Sashi Tharoor during a separate interview related about how thousands of students from all across and not just Hyderabad have written to him speaking about the pervasive discrimination. “I am not equipped to say whether it was a Dalit death or not, but I know that there is a wide-spread perception and it is our duty to dispel the doubts. I am also baffled by Modiji’s silence.

He must have been disturbed by the death, but his statement has come after a week. Otherwise, he has been quite savvy with a microphone, camera or twitter. Even before Navjot Singh Sidhu had an operation, the PM took to twitter and had tweeted about it. Nothing wrong with it, but his speaking on key issues like this and the time when he was absolutely silent about the techie’s death in Pune just a few months after he was sworn in as the Prime Minister- can be re-assuring for the nation.”

‘It is a clear case of political interference that has caused the death of the student who is an Ambedkar Association activist. That is the trigger that will lead to a major movement in future. BJP is structurally weak–both individually and as an organisation. They are not built towards including Dalits. Even though they speak of it, their actions speak otherwise,” shared Dalit activist Sivakami speaking to The Hans India. “I do not like the word intolerance that is being used, which says it is something one has to tolerate.

I would rather call for peaceful co-existence,” she added. Towards the beginning of the discussion itself Susheendra expressed his belief in dialogue, both interfaith and intrafaith and especially between neighbouring countries, be it Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan. “Even if I do not agree with Narendra Modi on many issues, I appreciate the way he took a spontaneous decision to visit Pakistan to attend Nawaz Sharif’s personal ceremony. This is the kind of bridge that I am saying we must cross,”.

The Sufi exponent Salman Chisty shared, “In order to bring back the past tradition of love and brotherhood even within Islam, we constantly engage the youngsters of universities, inviting students from across the world and holding exchange programs in Sufi tradition and to understand the core of Islam. We are also planning to bring together ulemas from 40 countries, who will assemble at New Delhi to address the issue.”