Politics

Does Mayawati Want India To Be A Non-Functioning Democracy?

Prahlad Rao

Feb 24, 2016, 04:58 PM | Updated 04:58 PM IST


Photo credit- PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images
Photo credit- PRAKASH SINGH/AFP/Getty Images
  • Are we going to let the caste of a judge decide whether he can deliver justice, asks Smriti Irani.
  • One-man judicial commission is look into the suicide by 26-year-old Rohit Vemula.
  • Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati wants Dalit member in the judicial commission.
  • If every Indian insists on what Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati is demanding, then India will cease functioning. No decision will be honoured or respected in this country. Why are we so alarmed?

    Speaking in Rajya Sabha today (Wednesday) Dalit leader Mayawati reply from the government on whether a Dalit will be part of the judicial committee set up to probe Rohith Vemula’s suicide at Hyderabad Central University.

    A horrified HRD Ministry Smriti Irani questioned the logic behind Mayawati’s demand. “My only question to the senior members of this House is, are we going to let the caste of a judge decide whether he can deliver justice?”

    Smriti Irani seems to be speaking for most of us. How can a person discharge his or her duty as a judge, a police officer or any other decision making process if their caste or community is called for question?

    If Mayawati is correct then every law of the land can be subjected scrutiny of caste or community. How can law-makers speak in such manner?

    For the record, the one-member Justice (retd) Ashok Kumar Roopanwal panel began its proceedings at the Centre for Distance and Virtual Learning (CDVL) in Hyderabad on Tuesday (23, Feb, 2016),

    The HRD ministry had issued a notification on February 2 appointing Roopanwal, a retired judge of the Allahabad High Court, as a one-man judicial commission to look into the suicide by 26-year-old Vemula. As per the mandate, the commission would enquire into the facts and circumstances leading to the death of Vemula and fix responsibility for lapses, if any.

    During the three-day hearing, student unions and representatives of teaching and non-teaching staff, proctor, wardens, dean (students’ welfare), VC Appa Rao Podile, acting VC M Periasamy, and senior officials of the UoH are expected to meet the commission. Vemula’s suicide on January 17 had triggered a massive outrage.


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