VK Singh counters Kanhaiya's 'Vemula idol remark', alleges dalit scholar supported Yakub Memon - Watch

New Delhi: Adding a new twist in the JNU-Afzal Guru row, Union minister VK Singh on Saturday hit out at JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar for calling dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, who allegedly had conducted a meet in support of Mumbai blasts accused Yakum Memon, as his inspiration.

Addressing a convention of BJYM, the youth wing of BJP in Mathura, Singh said, "I read in newspapers today that a JNU student leader says that he does not draw inspiration from Afzal Guru but Rohith Vemula. I told myself that Rohith Vemula too had organised a meeting for Yakub Memon. "Are we with those people who encourage terrorism and who abuse India?" 

He further called upon the youth workers to spread nationalism and tell people how to take the country ahead when "fissiparous forces" are at work.

The Minister of State for External Affairs also spoke at length about the Modi government's foreign policy and said the government had succeeded in strengthening its relations with many countries, including neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

However, at a time when BJP has been trying to play down the row over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad university, Singh's remarks could fuel the controversy further as the Minister questioned his "support" for Memon, who was hanged for his role in Mumbai blasts.

Kumar, out on bail in a sedition case, had said yesterday that he considers Rohith an inspiration and not Afzal Guru, the Parliament attack convict in whose support slogans were allegedly raised at a JNU event prompting the police action.

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WATCH: Mathura (UP): Union Minister V K Singh on JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar's speechhttps://t.co/xpIOrIAmcs — ANI (@ANI_news) March 5, 2016