S Jaipal Reddy describes HRD Minister as 'Manu Smriti Irani'

HYDERABAD: Attacking Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani over the Rohith Vemula and other issues, senior Congress leader S Jaipal Reddy today described her as 'Manu Smriti Irani'.

"She is 'Manu Smriti Irani' because she has Manu in her heart," Reddy said, slamming the Minister for the suicide of Vemula, a Dalit scholar of Hyderabad University.

Manu is believed to have proposed the four-rung caste system in the ancient times. 'Manu Smriti' is an ancient legal text.

He was speaking at a meeting organised here by Telangana Congress as part of 125th birth anniversary celebrations of BR Ambedkar.

It was the Congress party and its leaders who made Ambedkar the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, the former Union Minister said.

Ambedkar has a special place among the luminaries born in the country for the path-breaking contributions he made in drafing the Constitution and working for social change, Reddy said.

Hitting out at the RSS, the Congress leader maintained it was Jawaharlal Nehru and Ambedkar who supported the Hindu Code Bill, which was allegedly opposed by the Sangh fountainhead, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJP's earlier avatar) and the latter's leader Syama Prasad Mukherjee, he said.

Reddy also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly distorting facts about the Hindu Code Bill recently.