New Delhi, Aug 21 National security does not get compromised when a few people shout slogans, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor today said, defending Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara’s clean chit to Amnesty International in a case of alleged sedition slapping which he contended was a “big mistake”.
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Parameshwara said that he has not given the Indian chapter of Amnesty a clean chit and added that the investigation is still going on. “To be on the safe side, the college principal registered a complaint and we filed a case as the students are minors”, a police officer said.
Bengaluru police booked Amnesty last week on Monday after BJP’s student group ABVP protested and alleged that slogans on Kashmir’s independence were raised at the event held at a city college two days earlier.
Leading the charge, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said “Azadi” slogans can not be treated as freedom of speech and slammed Congress and its Karnataka government, accusing them of indulging in vote bank politics over the issue.
Ex-servicemen also joined ABVP’s protest in Bengaluru on Sunday, while Jnanpith award-winning Kannada writer Chandrashekhar Kambar said that slogans against India and its army were not acceptable. “Why do they think that Karnataka is trying to protect them or give them a clean chit?” “Let them find out what Amnesty International is doing and take action accordingly”, he said. “An organization, which gets funding from overseas, organized the event and yesterday I read the statement of Karnataka Home Minister in which he said that whatever happened is nothing wrong”, Jaitley said.
BJP leaders, including its former Home Minister R. Ashok, criticised the police for caning the students and sought closure of Amnesty’s office “for allowing anti-national activities in the country”. Leading the offensive, finance minister Arun Jaitley said “azadi” slogans can not be treated as freedom of speech and slammed the Congress and its Karnataka government for “indulging in vote-bank politics” over the issue. “Shouting slogans does not constitute anti-national activity”.
The protesting activists submitted a memorandum demanding an National investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into the whole episode.
“Amnesty was the organiser of the programme and none of its representatives raised the slogans”.
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Amnesty has said the event was focused on human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir which has been reeling from weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces.
