Anti-national sloganeers at JNU deserve jail: Shah slams Rahul, Kejriwal

Slamming Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, Home Minister Amit Shah said that those raising anti-national slogans in JNU deserve punishment. He questioned the two leaders if they were 'cousins' of tukde tukde sloganeers.

Jabalpur: Launching a blistering attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday said that those who had raised 'anti-national' slogans on the JNU campus deserved to be put behind bars.

Questioning whether Gandhi and Kejriwal are 'cousin brothers' of 'tukde tukdesloganeers', Shah told a public meeting that whosoever speaks against the country will be jailed.

"In JNU, some boys had raised anti-national slogans. They indulged in slogans like 'Bharat tera tukde ho ek hazar, inshallaha, inshallaha'....Should they not be put in jails?" the BJP chief asked a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has stirred the politics in the country.

With people at the meeting raising slogans like 'Desh ke gaddaronke, jute maro salonko' (traitors should be slapped with footwear), Shah asked, "Speak loudly. Should they not be
put in jails?"

"...Rahul Baba and Kejriwal are saying save them, save them (the anti-national sloganeers). Are they your cousin brothers?" he questioned amid cheers from the crowd.

Shah, however, didn't mention the exact timeline of the alleged sloganeering at the JNU in his speech.

A case had been registered by Delhi police against then JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and several others, for being involved in an event at the university on February 9, 2016, in which anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

Shah singled out Kejriwal, who heads the AAP government in poll-bound Delhi, during his speech.

"Listen Kejriwalji. Whosoever speaks against the country will find a place behind bars and nowhere else," Shah said.

Kejriwal had on Thursday blamed the Centre for the January 5 violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) as he defended the Delhi Police which has faced widespread criticism for failing to take action.

The ruling BJP at the Centre and Opposition parties, mainly Congress and the Left, have been locked in a fierce war of wards over the January 5 violence on the JNU campus,
wherein masked men and women had attacked students with rods and sticks.

Leftist organisations had claimed RSS-affiliated ABVP's role in the attack, a charge denied by the students' body.

Meanwhile, Shah blasted Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was notified by the Centre on Friday.

The Centre had issued a gazette notification announcing that the CAA under which non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given Indian citizenship, will come into force from January 10.

The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11.

Nath had led a peace march against the new law in Bhopal last year.

"Kamal Nathji vociferously opposes the CAA. However, instead of opposing it, he (Nath) should focus on utilising his energy in improving Madhya Pradesh," Shah told the gathering.

He said the ruling Congress had failed to keep its pre-poll promise to waive farm loan up to Rs 2 lakh.

"Farmers in Madhya Pradesh have not yet received even the procurement amount for wheat and paddy. They have not received the Rs 6000 benefit under a Union government
scheme," he said.

Shah said liquor outlets are mushrooming in Madhya Pradesh.

"The Congress had promised doles (in its manifesto for the assembly polls) to the unemployed youth (last year), but has not implemented the promise," Shah said.

The Congress came to power in December last year by defeating the BJP by a narrow margin which was in power for the last 15 years till it lost elections.

Meanwhile, five Sindhi refugees from Jabalpur met the Union Home Minister on Sunday, BJP MLA (Jabalpur-Cantonment) Ashok Rohani said.

He said, the five persons had migrated to Jabalpur from Pakistan in the past and are awaiting Indian citizenship.

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