'Saw Rahul Gandhi Smiling During Rohith Vemula Debate, Snapped': Smriti Irani To NDTV

Amethi: Union Minister Smriti Irani today directed sharp jabs at Rahul Gandhi from his constituency Amethi, saying that she had seen him "smiling away" during the debate in Parliament on Rohith Vemula, the Hyderabad student whose suicide in January provoked a massive political controversy.

"I saw Rahul Gandhi smiling away during the Rohith Vemula debate and something in me snapped," Ms Irani told NDTV to a question on her powerful rebuttal in the Lok Sabha in February to opposition allegations that she had a role in driving the young research scholar to suicide.

"We're talking about a dead child and he sat there smiling away. There has to be a boundary that as human beings we should not cross. That irrespective of what political opportunity it provides to you, you can't sit there and giggle away just to show Smriti Irani her place," the minister said.

The smile, she said, indicated that Rohith was a political pawn for the Congress vice president.

"How could he play politics over the death of a child? And yes I will still call him a child," said the minister.

26-year-old Rohith was found hanging in a hostel room at the Hyderabad Central University on January 17, days after he was banned from parts of the campus over allegations that he had attacked an activist of the ABVP, a student body linked to the BJP.

The Congress and the Left allege that the university acted against Rohith under pressure from two central ministers including Smriti Irani.

Ms Irani said her speech in Parliament was based on evidence and documented facts.

"The opposition said whatever she said, can she back it with evidence and present it to both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha? I presented the evidence. If there was anything lacking in it, a privilege motion would have been moved against me, but it wasn't. I stand by all that I said," the minister said.