“There has been only one Bhagat Singh”. Tharoor had addressed students outside JNU’s administrative hall, where he spoke on the sedition controversy and the nationalism debate.
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The BJP dubbed Tharoor’s comment an insult to the great freedom fighter and all patriots of the country.
It is up to Kanhaiya Kumar that he may publicly disassociate from the statement of Shashi Tharoor who is extremely rich by wealth but poorest of poor by his conduct/statements.
Kanhaiya was booked for sedition after he allegedly raised anti-national slogans at an event held to commemorate the death of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru.
While senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said “nobody can be compared to Bhagat Singh”, his party colleague Manish Tewari dismissed Tharoor’s remarks saying, “There has been only one Bhagat Singh”.
On the allegation that JNU students overstay their time in the university, Kanhaiya cited the importance of research in nation building and said it was on par with those of soldiers, farmers and industrialists. Comparing Kanhaiya Kumar with Bhagat Singh is an insult to the freedom fighter and all patriots.
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“Today nationalism is decided by whether or not one can say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. Since the last two years, they are opposing development… they supported anti-national slogans by going there (JNU)… and now they are insulting the martyrs… this has been the identity of the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi”, Javadekar said. The Congress leader added that Singh’s fight against colonial rule and Kumar fighting for his beliefs in a different democracy made “circumstances different”. The Congress leader said he had not sought to make any comparison between Kanhaiya and Bhagat Singh but rather compare the thought process of the two leaders. So the situations are different. “What is happening here has given the whole nation an education in the vital issues of dissent and democracy, sedition and of course of “azaadi” (freedom)”, Tharoor said.
