After a meeting of its national executive at which the BJP kept the issue of nationalism front and centre, the party announced plans for a three-day programme from March 23 to 25 to commemorate the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh.
The party said the decision was triggered by the former Union Minister, Shashi Tharoor’s comparison of the freedom fighter with JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar in a speech on the campus two days ago. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the BJP demanded an apology from Mr. Tharoor.
“While the Congress distanced itself from his statement, it has not sought any apology from him,” he said. “For 12 years, the Congress opposed [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi; for two years, it opposed development [under Mr. Modi]; then it gave respectability to anti-India slogans raised at JNU; and now insulting martyrs has become the identity of the Congress under Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
