Teachers expose chinks in Irani’s armour

In an open letter, they ask Smriti Irani if it had befitted her stature to implicate the grief-stricken people over the death of Rohith

Hyderabad: Alleging that the Union Human Resource Development Minister Smrithi Irani’s claims were not only factually incorrect, but they pointed to utter lack of respect and sensitivity for the grieving family, students, SC/ST Teachers’ Forum and concerned faculty members of University of Hyderabad said Smrithi Irani clearly disconnected from the heartbreaking grief of Rohith Vemula’s friends palpable to anyone present that night or the accompanying anger knowing the injustice that led to the tragedy.

SC/ST Teachers’ Forum and concerned faculty, in an open letter to the Union Minister on Saturday, questioned Smrithi whether it had befitted the Minister to implicate these grieving people over the death of their friend. Describing her speech as a stunning performance, the forum said many faculty members from the University of Hyderabad were compelled to do what they should have done in the last one month or so, but could not bring them to write about Rohith, about other students, about the state of academics, about the faculty and about society at large.

They said they had watched Smrithi in disbelief on TV screens on February 24, in a voice choked with emotion, again and again referred to the ‘child’ whose death had been used as a political weapon. They asked Smrithi at what precise point, did this “sinister, anti-national, casteist, Dalit student” of the University of Hyderabad transformed into a ‘child’ for her.

Definitely, not in those five rejoinders from MHRD between 2015 September 3 and November 19 with the subject line ‘Anti-national activities in Hyderabad Central University Campus’ and definitely not when she chose to overlook and endorse what could only be read as extraordinarily aggressive and unfounded allegations by a Minister in her own government, Bandaru Dattatreya, they said. Irani’s constant reference to him as a ‘child’ was nothing but a patronising attempt to dehumanise his reality.

However, they said they would like to go beyond those facts and appeal to the Minister’s heart. The Minister was not there that night. She did not see the grief or the shock, nor were she there to feel the despair. How could she even begin to fathom how desperate students were when they called the faculty members and medical doctor of the university’s Health Centre as soon as Rohith's body was found hanging by students and security officials, they asked.

As Dr Rajyasree, the medical officer stated, she rushed to the hostel at 7.30 pm and declared Rohith dead at 7.40 pm, all recorded in his case sheet on that fateful night of January 17. The police arrived at the scene immediately after this.
They said it was beyond their comprehension to understand how the Minister with her meticulous preparation evident in the Lok Sabha speech ignored these crucial medical documents and preliminary evidences.

This also included the post mortem report that declared Rohith was dead at least 18-24 hours before the body was examined the subsequent day. From all the medical and post mortem reports, statements by friends, faculty, and university officials, it was clear that Rohith’s body was found hours after he hung himself, they said.