Strongly condemning the anti-national posters in JNU, union Information and Broadcasting minister M Venkaiah Naidu alleged that the opposition parties are also deliberately obfuscating the truth and indulging in Orwellian doublespeak by creating an impression that the critics of the government are being dubbed as “anti-nationals”.
Nothing can be farther from truth. Anti-government slogans are understandable but no right-thinking person will tolerate anti-national slogans that seek to balkanise India. Dissent is agreeable, but those wanting to disintegrate the country cannot be tolerated, much less supported, he said while speaking to media at his residence at Banjara hills.
While only five or six of more than 740 universities across the country have witnessed some kind of agitation by a handful of students with ideological affiliations to ultra-left and Maoists, the opposition parties are making it appear that unrest is sweeping across all campuses, he said.
Venkaiah Naidu said opponents of the BJP are resorting to the same old hackneyed methods of trying to create social tensions and indulging in vote-bank politics. The Congress and Left parties are mainly responsible for promoting tensions, disaffection and unrest on some of the campuses. Venkaiah Naidu said the Communist Parties which have failed to arouse the masses for their causes are now using their frontal organizations in the campuses and elsewhere in the country to create social disturbances. In a rather shocking manner, the Congress is not only rushing to their rescue but is also joining hands with them.
He said a debate is wrongly formulated over nationalism versus freedom of speech. It is not nationalism but national security that is at stake.
The president’s address is very apt, timely and all should respect, practice the advice given by the President of India, Venkaiah Naidu said
BJP state leader Indrasen Reddy and Krishna Saagar were also present at the press conference.(NSS)