Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar used the occasion of Mother’s Day to pen an open letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani, calling her the self-declared mother of all university students and wondering how a mother can let her children suffer if she cared so much.
Kanhaiya addressed Irani as the “anti-rational” mother of “anti-nationals” and extended Mother’s Day wishes on behalf of students.
The letter:
Dear Madam Smriti Irani – self-declared mother of all varsity students,
I wish you a happy Mother’s Day on behalf of all university students.
We are trying hard to study in the warmth of your motherly love. Under your reign, we are learning how to study despite police canes and hunger.
Today, a friend sent me this image and asked how under Mr Modi’s regime – where besides our own mother, we also have Mother Cow, Mother India, Mother Ganges and Mother Smriti – could Rohith die? I am asking you this because I have no answer. The same anti-national friend also said that Mother Smriti’s ministry sent several letters to punish Rohith and was also responsible for withholding Rohith’s fellowship for seven months.
In a great country like India, can a mother force drive her child to suicide? Can a mother accept punishments on her children based on doctored videos and a biased probe? Your children, starving for 11 days, are asking you this question. Please reply, if you find the time. The friend who sent this image calls you the “anti-rational mother of anti-nationals.” I hope you will prove this allegation false in your factual reply.
It is a mother’s duty to teach her children to call a spade a spade and raise their voice against injustice. That’s why several mothers of JNU have come out to encourage their children on hunger strike today. These even include an 80-year-old mother in a wheel chair. We are waiting for you.