When Mayawati Express ran into Smriti Central..

The Budget Session of the Parliament today witnessed something very similar to TV operas. In Rajya Sabha, BJP leader and Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and BSP supremo Mayawati got into an ugly spat over Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide case.

As soon as the Rajya House convened for Zero Hour, BSP chief Mayawati raised the suicide last month of research scholar Rohith Vemula, questioning the inclusion of Dalits in the probe committee investigating his death.
Mayawati, in her long tirade which continued despite the Speaker's intervention, 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.

To this, a visibly furious education minister Smriti Irani replied, "Mayawatiji, you and your BSP leaders and workers, hear this out for once and all. I will cut off my head and present it at your feet if you are not satisfied with my reply."
Mayawati who was not convinced with Irani's explanation said, "You are not letting anyone speak. And you are an anti-Dalit. I am just asking, what was the problem with including a Dalit in the probe committee? If the person appointed was a Dalit, why aren't you replying to our questions?"
Irani in response said, "There were Dalits in the probe committee. You didn't accept their judgement. The probe committee included a Dalit professor, the warden is a Dalit. Do you want to say that a citizen becomes a Dalit only when Mayawati certifies him to be so?"