NEW DELHI, Feb 24:
Amid raging controversy over JNU, Home Minister Rajnath Singh tonight assured the Lok Sabha that no innocent student will be harassed and said the issue of sedition charge slapped against some students should be left for the courts to decide.
Singh also told the House that those found guilty of attacks on media in Patiala House Court will not be spared.
The Home Minister also answered criticism for making a remark that LeT founder Hafiz Sayeed had expressed support to JNU students, saying he never makes any comment which is “baseless or not backed by any direct or indirect evidence”. He, however, refrained from going into details citing confidentiality.
Replying to a day-long debate on the JNU issue, he said the Government had not hand in the action taken against the students.
He said police is taking action with regard to allegations that anti-India slogans were chanted there.
“If slapping of sedition charge was right, the court will uphold it, if it was wrong, the court will quash it. But let the court take a view on it,” he said.
At the same time, he said, “Under no circumstances will any innocent student be allowed to be harassed.”
Insisting that he never considered JNU as a “centre of anti-national activities” as alleged by the opposition, the Home Minister said he was appreciative of the contribution of its “highly-talented” alumni in different fields.
He said students have the freedom of expression and that nobody should have a problem with dissent.
“But there is a limit to the freedom of expression. If that is transgressed, it cannot be condoned by a vigilant society,” Singh said.
While asserting that nobody is in agreement with the slogans that were raised in JNU, the Home Minister also made it clear that those who indulged in violence in Patiala Court will not be spared.
The Home Minister, who spoke after the reply of HRD Minister Smriti Irani, showered lavish praise on her saying her speech will be an eye-opener not only for Parliament but the entire nation.
Earlier, a belligerent HRD Minister Smriti Irani today targeted the Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, and the Left after a debate on JNU and Hyderabad University controversies in Lok Sabha turned into a no-holds-barred battle between Government and the Opposition.
In a hard-hitting reply, laced with emotion and anger, she forcefully defended the action against students of JNU saying Kanhaiya Kumar and some other students had been found indulging in anti-national activities by the JNU authorities themselves.
The debate, which was advanced in the Lok Sabha from tomorrow after Congress insisted on it, was often acrimonious with attacks and counter-attacks with each side giving its version of nationalism and patriotism.
While the Congress and other opposition parties accused the government of creating an atmosphere of divide and hatred in its attempt to keep alive divisive issues, the treasury benches accused them of being on the side of anti-national elements.
The opposition had gunned for Irani and Labour Minister Dattatreya, whose letters to her have been blamed for the suicide of dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in the Hyderabad Central University, and demanded action against them.
Members of the Congress, Left parties and Trinamool Congress staged a walk out in the wake of her strident attack on them in which she rejected the charge of saffronisation of education.
Referring to attack on the government as being “anti-minority”, she gave examples of helping students, including one Muslim boy from Kashmir who had apprised her about not getting scholarship.
She also named a number of MPs, including Pappu Yadav, Saugata Roy, Assadudin Owaisi and Shashi Tharoor, whom she had helped after they made requests for school admissions.
Rejecting the charge of saffronising education, she said, she would quit politics if it was established she made any attempt to do so.
Most of the Vice Chancellors are Congress appointees, Irani said, adding she had asked them to listen to the students who come from different backgrounds and address their issues.
“Help me build the nation, not destroy it from within,” she said stressing, “I respect your patriotism, don’t demean mine… I have my idea of India…Don’t demean it.”
Citing documents, she said, report by JNU’s security people observed that some students were indulging in anti-national sloganeering even though the students had sought permission to hold a “poetry” event.
Those involved in the programme which include Umar Khalid, Kanhayia Kumar and others, she said, were suspended by the JNU authorities though they were allowed to stay on the campus till completion of the inquiry.
Earlier too, Irani said some students and professors had taken out rallies in support of Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his role in attack on Parliament, and burnt the effigy of Home Ministry.
Hanging of Afzal Guru was described by the activists as “judicial murder”, she said, adding it amounted to rising against Supreme Court and the Indian state.
The HRD minister responded to all the issues raised by the opposition including allegations of “muzzling” the voice of students in her speech.
Giving the sequence of events at the JNU on the basis of documents of the university authorities, Irani said Umar Khalid had sought permission to organise a “poetry” programme.
Although the permission was denied, the students went ahead with the programme which turned into a platform for shouting anti-India slogans like “Bharat teri barbadi tak jang rahegi, jang rahegi” (the struggle would continue till destruction of Indian state), she said.
The Minister based her contention on the report filed by the private security staff of JNU with regard to the developments on January 9.
Accusing the Communists of using students as weapons against state, she asserted that anti-national slogans cannot be allowed under the garb of freedom of speech.
To buttress her case about undeserving activities on the JNU campus, she cited an event to observe ‘Mahishasura Martyrdom Day’ in which Goddess Durga is depicted in a derogatory manner.
Meanwhile, opposition accused the Government of muzzling the voice of the youth and “mercilessly crushing” the principles of democracy.
Initiating the debate, Congress’ Chief Whip Jyotiraditya Scindia alleged “undue interference” by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in Vemula’s case.
“Bandaru Dattatreya in his letter had called Rohith a castiest and an anti-national. Where in the world can you see a HRD minister writing five letters in any case,” he said.
Scindia also raised the issue of FTII, IIT Madras and JNU and said, “the Government was trying to muzzle the voice of the youth.”
Lambasting the Government, Scindia attacked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram and Irani for emphasising that Vemula was not a Dalit.
Criticising the role of Hyderabad University administration, he said protests and fights are the part of academic institutions but in this case the Vice-Chancellor should have tackled this issue in a better way.
However, he instead suspended the Dalit students and compelled them to stay in an open tent because of the the “politics of the RSS and BJP,” Scindia said.
“What is the duty of the Government? It is to protect the democratic institutions and work for the betterment of the people. But since last two years, with the atmosphere of intolerance, no one feels secured. It is mercilessly crushing the democratic principles,” the Congress leader said.
“The Prime Minister speaks of demographic dividend of the youth. But what do we see in the country? In Madhya Pradesh, we see Vyapam, the problem of drugs in Punjab, the way the voice of students in FTII was muzzled. The Government machinery is being misused and is trying to crush the voice of the dissident and those having the contrary view,” he said.
From BJP side, Anurag Thakur raised the nationalist pitch over the JNU issue and attacked Congress, saying for the party, “it is ‘family first’, ‘party next’ and ‘nation last’. For us, it is ‘nation first’, ‘party next’ and ‘family last’.”
He alleged that Rahul Gandhi went to the university to support such outfits which were named by the previous UPA Government as “frontal organisations” for Maoists.
“I want to ask Sonia ji, why your young leader was standing with those who stand with Afzal Guru,” Thakur said addressing the Congress President who was present there.
His speech saw protests from Congress members who raised a point of order, saying he was levelling “derogatory allegations” against Rahul, a contention rejected by the Speaker.
He alleged that when 74 security personnel were killed in a naxal attack in Dantewada in Chattisgarh a few years back, there were celebrations in JNU.
Thakur also referred to the Batla House encounter in which a Delhi Police inspector had died in an encounter with terrorists and said that a Union Minister belonging to Congress had then said Sonia Gandhi “cried” over the death of terrorists.
“You did not go to the house of the martyred Inspector. Rahul Gandhi also could not go. But he went to JNU,” he said.
Sugata Bose (Trinamool Congress) accused the Government of being “heartless” in dealing with the students and said the situation in the JNU should have been handled with sensitivity.
Observing that similar problems were witnessed at Jadhavpur University, he said, the West Bengal Government did not over-react but tried to defuse the situation.
He said people could disagree with students but it would be incorrect to brand them anti-national and slap sedition charges on them. “They too have the right to make mistake,” he added.
Nobody, Bose said, should claim monopoly on nationalism and the Government should respect the right of everyone including that of students to freedom of speech and expression.
Quoting Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, he said, it would be wrong to pursue nationalism which is “narrow, selfish and arrogant.”
He suggested that laws dealing with sedition should be repealed as they were enacted by colonial rulers to subserve their ends.
The passionate speech of Bose was appreciated by several members of the House. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi walked up to his seat to congratulate him.
Participating in the discussion, BJD member Tathagata Satpathy described Azfal Guru as a “scoundrel” and said the system gave the dreaded man full chance to defend himself.
However, he added, the Government should have handled the JNU episode with care and the Home Ministry should not have made a statement on the basis of tweets, “which are no more than gossips”.
Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) demanded that Article 370, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir, should be repealed and stressed that those who may try to break this nation “should be torn into pieces”.
Sawant said that today some sections were praising Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat and tomorrow they would even praise Kasab, that would be regrettable.
Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav said JNU is a prestigious institute and for the first time it has been labelled as “desh drohi”.
The incident of February 9 in JNU should be investigated properly, he said adding people who have raised anti-national slogans should be punished. (PTI)
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