Jayant Sinha garlands Ramgarh lynching convicts: Rahul Gandhi shares petition seeking withdrawal of minister's 'Harvard alumni status'

Just days after Union minister Jayant Sinha stoked a political controversy by felicitating eight men convicted in the Ramgarh lynching case, a Change.org petition has been started to withdraw his status as an alumni of the Harvard University. Congress President Rahul Gandhi also shared the petition on Twitter on Tuesday. Rahul tweeted:

If the sight of a highly educated MP & Central Minister, Jayant Sinha, garlanding & honouring criminals convicted of lynching an innocent man, fills you with disgust, click on the link & support this petition.

Sign Petition:https://t.co/K9CrzHbNOz via @ChangeOrg_India

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 10, 2018

The petition states that Sinha’s actions have “shocked the nation”. Prateek Kanwal, who started the petition, wrote that as a responsible citizen and a Harvard alumnus, he strongly condemns the minister’s actions. In a letter to the president of Harvard University, Kanwal wrote that media reports alluded to the fact that Sinha is a Harvard alumnus and the university’s image was being sullied in India on his account. He also sought to have Sinha’s alumni status withdrawn for “inappropriate behavior”. The Union minister courted controversy by garlanding the convicts at his house on Friday. He also advised them to “have faith in the judiciary”, saying the courts will serve justice. Soon after photographs from the felicitation were shared widely on social media, Sinha drew criticism from Leader of Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Hemant Soren, who called it “ truly despicable ”. With inputs from PTI