Rohith Vemula's suicide: Nitish attack Modi government, says it's result of 'political intolerance'

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Wednesday targeted the Narendra Modi government at the Centre for intolerance in the country that resulted in the suicide by a Dalit student in Hyderabad.

"Desh mein aaj rajnitik intolerance ka mahaul hain and usi ka result hain ki ek Dalit chatra ne atmahatya kiya (There is an environment of political intolerance in the country that resulted in the suicide by a Dalit student)," Nitish Kumar said.

"It is a matter of serious concern that intolerance has increased in the country," he said after attending an all-party condolence meeting for late CPI leader A.B. Bardhan.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad also attended the condolence meeting.

Lalu Prasad, meanwhile, directly attacked the BJP and the RSS over the suicide.

"For the BJP and the RSS, Dalits and the minorities have no place and what happened in Hyderabad is an example of it. Humiliation, mental torture and victimisation of a Dalit student has again exposed the real character of the BJP and the RSS in case of Dalits," he said.

Both leaders said Bardhan always wanted a larger unity of like-minded people to fight against forces threatening the unity, integrity and social harmony of the country.

"We should be alert and ready for a big fight ahead, and for this, we have to work for a grand alliance across the country on the lines of Bihar... if possible a grand alliance bigger than Bihar," Nitish Kumar said.

Without naming the BJP or the RSS, he said forces that have emerged in the post-liberalisation phase have created an environment of intolerance which poses a danger to growth in the country.

Nitish Kumar demanded an impartial inquiry into the suicide.