A bolt from the blue for BJP

If Rahul deemed it fit to rush into the heat he certainly has a reason. After all, he is still seething in anger against Smriti Irani's onslaught against him. The BSP supremo, Mayavati. AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and the TMC's Mamata Benerjee, too, lost no time in announcing that their teams would be visiting the UoH campus to declare solidarity to the dalit cause. Demands for resignations of the Union Minister for HRD, Smriti Irani, and Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, B Dattatreya, alongside action against the Vice-Chancellor of the University could rattle the Budget Session

New Delhi: The Hyderabad Central University's dalit scholar Rohith's suicide kept spiralling into a major political confrontation for the BJP with the Opposition ranging against the same demanding the resignations of the Union Minister for HRD, Smriti Irani and Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, B Dattatreya, alongside action against the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

Even as the BJP remains on a sticky wicket on this count, there is a speculation among the political watchers here already that Bandaru could become a sitting duck a la Bangaru Laxman. This could be once again a long winter of protests for the ruling party in the country.

How would Modi's team weather the storm is to be seen as the issue not only came in handy for the anti-Hindutva forces including the student unions affiliated to the Left ideologies and Ambedkar Students' Unions, but also for the political opponents like the Congress, the BSP, the AAP and the TMC. Not only their student and youth wings but also their leaders have begun fishing in the troubled waters.

For the Opposition which is seeking to brand Modi's government as an anti-dalit government, the latest suicide of the dalit is almost godsend coming as it did in the wake of the recent incidents in Haryana and UP and the comments of Union Minister, V K Singh, against the dalits. Though no party deemed it fit to raise the issue of suspension of the dalit students earlier or fought on their behalf when an officially sanctioned social boycott was imposed, none of these is prepared to concede any political ground to others.

If Rahul deemed it fit to rush into the heat he certainly has a reason. After all, he is still seething in anger against Smriti Irani's onslaught against him and his family and party during her tour of Amethi just two days ago. Taking a jibe at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s claims that the people of Amethi were like a family to him, the HRD Minister on Sunday said the ‘Gandhi parivar’ does not take care of its own family members.

Speaking to media persons on the last day of her two-day visit to Amethi, Irani said Rahul’s Lok Sabha constituency would not have been facing so many challenges and been deprived of development had its people been seen as family by the ‘Gandhi parivar’ in its true sense. “Parijan hone ki kya yahi paribhasha hoti hai? (Is this the definition of being a guardian?)” she asked. Irani had unsuccessfully contested against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The first family of the Congress which treats Amethi and Rae Bareily as their fiefdom does not like outsiders stepping on the soil at all, much less attack the family from there. Above all, Irani is being groomed as a possible UP CM candidate by the BJP This could be said as the primary reason for the Congress to rush its Vice-President and president-in-waiting, Rahul Gandhi, to the University Campus in Hyderabad without wasting a day.

The BSP supremo, Mayavati. AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and the TMC's Mamata Benerjee too lost no time in announcing that their teams would be visiting the campus to declare solidarity to the Dalit cause. After all, this is an election year and everyone is eyeing the electoral pie. For the AAP and the BSP too the stakes in the dalit cause are too high not only because of the upcoming UP elections, but also Punjab elections where dalit support would be crucial to dislodge the present SAD-BJP government.

The reverberations of Rohit's suicide are being felt in Punjab too and the activists of Punjab Ambedkar Sena Moolnivasi on Tuesday took out a protest march and burnt the effigy of Irani and demanded sacking of Dattatreya. Led by the Sena's state President Harbhajan Suman, and supported by BSP, the protesters shouted slogans against the Central government and BJP for its alleged anti-dalit policies. They also petitioned the President of India and submitted a memorandum in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Congress party spokesperson, Kumari Selja, demanded the resignations of the two Union Ministers and later off the record added that this could be the theme of the Opposition offensive against the ruling party in the next Budget session. She said if these two don't resign, then the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, should sack them. The party now plans to club Rohit's issue with that of the controversial V K Singh's remarks to demand the sacking of all the three Ministers as it feels a worthy cause that could rally the Opposition behind them and score browny points on several counts.

Rahul has already set the tone of confrontation claiming that the GST Bill would not be allowed to pass without incorporating his party's version. In addition, Rohit's issue is seen as a more bankable one than their own personal Herald case. That Rohit's suicide has the potential to wash out the Budget session too is acknowledged by one and all including the BJP sources.

The problem for the BJP, unlike in the past is that the 'progressive and secular' students of various campuses easily identify with Rohit's cause than with the allegations against a Vasundhara Raje, Shiv Raj Singh Chouhan or Sushma Swaraj, which are purely political in nature. This is a social cause. This is an issue of freedom of expression and that of a social boycott in this age and times.

As Selja rightly said "the Prime Minister should break his silence. This is not the first time that BJP ministers have worked against the interest of the dalits. There are several others who have spoken ill of the dalits. And hence, the entire BJP and the Prime Minister are in the docks."

In the meantime, the protests continued to echo in the capital too with several students unions including AISA and AAP's Chattra Sanghatan and several Dalit outfits staging vociferous demonstrations at Jantar Mantar and the speakers indicated that they are gearing up for a long winter of protests.

Reports from Chennai, Pune (FTTI), Kolkota and Mumbai too suggested similar rallies and similar sentiments and the foul mood of the youth. The BJP leadership will be seen scrambling in defence for sure now.