BJP's bid to target Oppn on Rohith Vemula kin falls flat

New Delhi: The BJP was left red-faced Wednesday after Union minister Piyush Goyal accused the Opposition, and particularly Congress president Rahul Gandhi, of “exploiting the grief” of Rohith Vemula’s mother with the “false promise to assure a house to the bereaved family” as soon afterwards she made it clear that the Opposition parties “haven’t used me for political gains”.

Vemula, a young Ph.D. scholar at Hyderabad Central University, who allegedly committed suicide after caste slurs, has emerged as a symbol of atrocities against backwards and dalits.

Media reports had earlier claimed that Rohith Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula had accused the Indian Union Muslim League of not giving her a promised '20 lakhs to attend political rallies where false allegations against the BJP were being levelled. Mr Goyal claimed that Vemula’s mother was promised money by political parties to share the stage with them and level baseless allegations against the BJP.

Radhika Vemula told PTI: “Even though it’s true that the Indian Union Muslim League promised to provide me with money, they haven’t used me for political gains.” Mr Goyal was fielded by the BJP Wednesday morning to “expose” the Opposition’s “gameplan of exploiting the grief of a mother”. Ms Vemula said it was “my wish to speak against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and if needed I will speak again in any of their meetings” She added: “The IUML sent us two cheques of '2.5 lakhs, out of which one has bounced. We informed them and they said they will directly provide us money so that we can buy a house.”

Mr Goyal insisted, however, that there were “efforts to pressure the mother to retract her comments and probably again on the pretext of giving her some money”. Reacting strongly, Congress spokesman Ranjit Singh Surjewala tweeted: “Utterly shameful that Union Minister Piyush Goyal is peddling fake news qua Rohit Vemula and his mother in order to tarnish Rohit’s memory.”