New Delhi: The student organiser of the Mahishasura event in JNU, Anil Kumar today accused Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani of "lying" and "denied" that the statement she quoted from in Parliament was not "released" by him or his colleagues.
"The pamphlet that Smriti Irani was reading in Parliament on Wednesday was not written by me or any of my mates. The pamphlet she is seen holding in the speech is a colourful one which is never used in any JNU protest due to high printing costs. It is a fake document and the minister is lying," said Anil Kumar, who was a PhD student at the varsity when the event took place in 2014.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Udit Raj was caught in the wrong foot when images of him addressing the same event in 2013 surfaced. Confirming his participation in the meeting, the BJP MP said he wasn't a member of the party then and wondered how BJP was accountable in that case.
"I participated in mahishasura program in JNU in 2013 & joined BJP in 2014 & there spoke about social discriminations. How BJP is accountable? Not noticed there was blasphemous comment about Goddess Durga," he said in a series of tweets.
Irani while giving clarification about her Ministry's stringent action on 'Anti-National' forces, had read out a pamphlet in Parliament earlier this week, which said, " Posted on October 4, 2014. A statement by the SC, ST and minority students of JNU. And what do they condemn? May my God forgive me for reading this".
"We organised the event for three consecutive years and the idea was not to celebrate his martyrdom actually but because Mahishasura is worshipped as their ancestors by a certain tribe. Why the government wants to dictate us whether we should worship Durga or Mahishasura," said Anil, a member of the All India Backward Students Forum (AIBSF), which organises the event.
