The BJP and the Congress on Monday exchanged barbs over the crisis that has hit Jawaharlal Nehru University after the arrest of its students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, even as the situation took a turn for the worse with lawyers attacking JNU students, teachers and the media at Patiala House Courts where Mr. Kumar was expected to be produced.
BJP’s Delhi MLA O.P. Sharma was caught on camera assaulting a CPI member.
The war of words was triggered by BJP chief Amit Shah’s blog post attacking Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for backing “anti-nationals.”
Mr. Shah wondered if it meant supporting Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and such terror attacks and asked the Gandhis to apologise to the nation if their party was sensitive to the feelings of martyrs’ families.
The Congress was quick to return fire, saying those “externed” by the Supreme Court should not teach patriotism to the Congress, which played a “stellar role” in the freedom movement.
This was in response to Mr. Shah’s demand that Congress president Sonia Gandhi clarify her stand on the issue. “Rahul Gandhi, when you support anti-nationals in the name of freedom of expression, do you think of the jawans who die for the nation and do their duty at Siachen?” Mr. Shah asked.
Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters that “inheritors of the thought process of Nathuram Godse” were giving a new definition of patriotism and love for the nation.
He alleged that there was a pattern to the row in JNU which showed a “concerted conspiracy” of the Modi government and its attitude of “intolerance.”
