Hema drinks, has she killed herself? MLA asks

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to implement an order passed by the previous Akhilesh government regarding scrapping of SC, ST and OBC reservation in the post graduate courses at private medical and dental colleges in the state.

The Yogi government has not taken the decision to scrap reservation as is being reported in a section of the media. The order was passed by the Akhilesh government on March 10 — a day before the Samajwadi Party was voted out of power.

The issue is likely to blow up into a major controversy since the RSS has repeatedly sought a rethink on the reservation issue and the BSP, throughout the election campaign in UP, has been stating that the BJP would abolish reservation if it came to power.

Director medical education, Dr V.N. Tripathi said that it is wrong to say that rules of reservation have been scrapped. “Reservation was never a part of the admission process in private sector medical and dental colleges as per the prevalent policy made in 2006,” he said. In a controversial statement, Bacchu Kadu, an independent MLA from Maharashtra’s Amravati district dragged BJP member Hema Malini into the farmers’ suicide issue in the state.

While referring to statements made from the ruling benches that alcohol was one of the reasons behind farmer suicides, Mr Kadu attacked the former Bollywood actress saying, “If drinking alcohol is the reason for farmer suicide then there are many actors who drink daily. Doesn’t Hema Malini drink too? Why hasn’t she committed suicide?” he asked.

When contacted, Mr Kadu confirmed to this newspaper that he had indeed cited Ms Malini as an example. He claimed that he had made these statements at an event in Nanded on Thursday in a particular context. “I was referring to the statements made by some people from the government that alcohol is the reason why farmers are committing suicide in the context of the loan waiver. The government does not want to do anything. How can you blame alcohol for farmer suicides? Don't actors drink too? Have they committed suicide? I referred to Hema Malini in that context,” he said.