Student's suicide: BJP dalit leader attacks Bandaru, Irani

In embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party, former Union minister and party leader Sanjay Paswan on Thursday accused Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya of showing "grave insensitivity" to the issue of a dalit student which led to his suicide and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on it.

Paswan, a member of the BJP's national executive who once headed its SC cell, said "the least" the government can do is sack the Univerity of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor and institute a CBI probe into the matter.

Alleging that Rohith Vemula was subjected to "grave crime and grave insensitivity", Paswan attacked Dattatreya for calling him "anti-national" in his letter to the HRD Ministry and added that Irani too was responsible for "mishandling" the affair.

Coming from a dalit leader of the party, these comments will embarrass the BJP at a time when has been accused of being "anti-dalit" by the opposition.

"Grave crime has been committed. It's grave insensitivity. State government is responsible and so is the university administration. Bandaru ji is also responsible. He called him anti-national. Irani ji is also responsible as she mishandled the issue," he said.

"The Prime Minister himself is a very sensitive person. He should make a statement. The matter has become so serious that there should be a CBI inquiry," he said.

Paswan was a minister of state in the National Democratic Alliance government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and later headed the BJP's Scheduled Caste cell.