'Who Uses A Child As A Political Tool?': Smriti Irani vs Mayawati In Rajya Sabha

Angry exchanges, slogan-shouting and three adjournments in the first hour after the Rajya Sabha convened, blew a big hole today in the agreement between the government and opposition for a "disruption-free" Budget session of Parliament.

As soon as the Upper House convened for Zero Hour, Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP chief Mayawati raised the suicide last month of research scholar Rohith Vemula, demanding that Dalits be included in the panel investigating his death.

She also accused the Modi government of not doing enough to punish those she alleged were responsible for pushing the student to take his life and demanded the resignation of two central ministers - Bandaru Dattatreya and Smriti Irani.

A furious education minister Smriti Irani, who is a BJP member of the Rajya Sabha, shot back, "Who uses a child as a political tool?" She requested that the matter be discussed immediately in the House.

The BSP's lawmakers chanted anti-government slogans through the exchange, also trooping into the well or centre of the house, forcing the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha PJ Kurien to adjourn proceedings multiple times.

To end the protest, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs MA Naqvi stood up and sought to advance a debate scheduled for later in the day. "The House has already agreed to debate the JNU and Hyderabad issues later in the day. If Ms Mayawati wants and other parties agree, all business can be suspended to take up the debate on campus crisis right now," he said.

The Congress said it had no objection to doing that but the BSP refused to call off its noisy protests.

The BSP draws much of its political support from Dalits, and party sources said they raised the Rohith Vemula issue as other Opposition parties were focused more on the crisis in JNU or Jawaharlal Nehru University, where students have been charged with sedition.