This Article is From Jan 23, 2016

Shashi Tharoor Says PM Modi's Late Response To Scholar Suicide Baffling

Shashi Tharoor Says PM Modi's Late Response To Scholar Suicide Baffling

Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor during a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival at Diggi Palace in Jaipur on Saturday, January 23, 2016. (Press Trust of India photo)

Jaipur: Former Union minister Shashi Tharoor today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "almost-a-week late" response on the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and termed his silence "baffling".

"I find the PM's silence baffling. He has been hailed as a great communicator; he has been quick to take to microphone, the TV camera and Twitter to express his views on all sorts of things. But on all key issues facing our nation, there has been no communication from the PM," Mr Tharoor said.

"Even in this incident (Dalit scholar's suicide), the PM spoke almost after a week. (Congress vice president) Rahul Gandhi has been there days ago and the PM has only spoken yesterday," he said.

The Congress lawmaker was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival in Jaipur.

Mr Vemula, who committed suicide on Sunday night, was among five research scholars who were suspended by Hyderabad Central University (HCU) in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of assault on a student leader. They were also kept out of the hostel.

Mr Tharoor also said that India is still very conscious of caste and there existed a perception of discrimination against Dalits.

"After the tragedy, I got many letters and emails from Dalit students talking about what they say is a pervasive discrimination against Dalit students, scholars and researchers.

"I am not competent enough to judge whether this is true or false but the perception is clearly there, and it is our duty as a country to address this perception," he said.

The former Union minister also hit out against PM Modi for centralising power within his office, saying that no decisions are coming out of the government as "there is a mountain of files piling in the PM's office."

He also claimed that the present NDA government was not a "game changer but a name changer", as it merely implemented schemes of the previous UPA government.

"Pretty much all the significant schemes that this government has implemented were initiated by the UPA and if you look at the successes the government is talking about, they have been successes of repackaging slogans... that is why this isn't a game changing government but a name changing government.

"Ultimately if the PM is an effective and energetic salesman of India abroad, that can only work so long as he has real programs, real changes and real developments to sell abroad," Mr Tharoor said.
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