Jaitley, Yechury spar in RS over JNU row

The House took up the matter for discussion after debate was stalled by the BSP on Wednesday. Initiating the debate, Mr Yechury accused the government of partisan intervention in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, where five students had been slapped with sedition charges for organising an event where ‘anti-India’ slogans were raised. 

“You don’t have to teach us patriotism,” he said, attacking Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Education Minister Smriti Irani for their speeches in a similar debate on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha. 

Intervening in the debate, Mr Jaitley said, “Nobody disputes when you say the university has to have free thought. There’s an alternative viewpoint; why should this level of intolerance be displayed to this alternative viewpoint?” 

Participating in the debate Bhupender Yadav (BJP) questioned whether the JNU incident reflected “freedom of speech” or “speech for freedom” and sought to know how students distributed pamphlets on Kashmir.”Anti-national activities cannot be allowed in the JNU campus in the name of freedom of speech,” he said, prompting Yechury to ask who were those who raised such slogans or distributed pamphlets. 

The Opposition questioned slapping of sedition charge against some students of JNU and alleged that attempts were being made to save the perpetrators of violence in Patiala House court, claiming that Delhi Police was a “party” to the incident. 

“The incidents which happened during last few days were handled by Delhi Police in a professional manner. Therefore, I am not in agreement that the law and order situation in Delhi has deteriorated during the recent past,” Singh said while replying to a debate on Calling Attention Motion on ‘Complete breakdown of law and order in Delhi’.