JAMMU: The Central Government on Thursday downplayed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s move to lodge a formal protest with President Pranab Mukherjee over the JNU row and asked the grand old party to make their stand clear whether they support the anti-national elements in the country.
“First of all, the Congress leaders need to make their stand clear. Do they support the moves that tend to insult ‘Bharat Mata’, if so they will have to answer this in front of the world,” he said while asserting that the investigation into the entire episode is still on.
Gandhi on Thursday accused the RSS of trying to impose a flawed ideology on the students of this country.
Gandhi told the media that the Congress Party would defend the students’ rights everywhere. “Nationalism is in my blood. I have seen my family’s sacrifice again and again for this nation. If somebody has said anything against this nation, they should be punished according to law. However, it is not the government’s job to destroy our educational institutions and crush the expressions of all students,” said Gandhi.
“Across the country, the RSS is trying to impose a flawed ideology on the students of this country. This country will grow and prosper because of its students’ imagination, because of their belief and dreams and imposing this dead ideology on top of our students is the biggest crime that can be done,” he added.
The Congress vice-president also used the occasion to highlight the suicide of Hyderabad University PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.
“Rohith Vemula was crushed by the government because he expressed himself, and that is happening in every single university and that is why we went to the President,” he added.
Earlier, a case has been registered against Rahul Gandhi in an Allahabad district court for his remark on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) incident.
The PIL filed in the court states that Gandhi took ‘anti-national’ stand by voicing his support for the JNU students.
The matter will be taken up for hearing on March 1.