Congress slams PM Modi for not referring to Rohith Vemula case in Mann ki Baat

NEW DELHI: Keeping up the offensive on the Rohith Vemula suicide issue, Congress today lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking any action against Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.

Party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma regretted that the Prime Minister did not even refer to the issue in his ' Mann Ki Baat' radio programme despite the fact that the dalit scholar's death has sparked of agitation on university campuses in the country.

He alleged that the Prime Minister's "failure" to sack his colleagues showed that the sympathy he showed towards Rohith in a speech last week was just a "pretence".

Sharma alleged that senior BJP leaders were adding insult to injury by claiming that Rohith was not a dalit.

He accused the government of being "directly responsible" for the tension and the agitation in the wake of the suicide of Rohith.

Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi had yesterday went on a day-long fast at Hyderabad Central University backing protesting students on the Dalit scholar suicide issue and accusing the Prime Minister and the RSS of trying to crush the spirit of students by imposing "one idea from the top".