Jaitley links Parameshwara's clean chit to Amnesty with vote bank politics

Extremely disappointed over Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara's clean chit to Amnesty International, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday alleged that some political parties were indulging in vote bank politics for nefarious gains.

"After paying such a big price, even today the mindset of politicians has not changed," he said.

Jaitley also highlighted the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy to justify his point.

"When anti-India slogans were being raised in the JNU campus, we were the only party who said both inside the Parliament and outside that it was not right for someone to raise such slogans .The Congress vice-president even visited the JNU to express his solidarity with those youth," he added.

The Karnataka Home Minister yesterday said Amnesty India has never involved itself in any kind of anti-national activities.

"Amnesty International is not new to Bengaluru. This organisation has been functioning here for a long time. I don't know nor I have heard in the past about it or anyone involving it in any anti-national activities," Parameshwara said.

"They had organised a programme about the Army's excesses in Kashmir. They had called a few families (from Kashmir) to console them and give them some sort of mental support, when certain incidents took place about which an FIR has been registered," he added.

The clean chit from the State Home Minister came even as the organisation faces sedition charges over an event where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

The Amnesty International had earlier on August 13 organised an event as part of a campaign to seek justice for "victims of human rights violations" in Jammu and Kashmir that took an ugly turn with heated exchanges and raising of anti-India slogans.

Mounting pressure on the government post the incident, the BJP activists staged protests on the streets demanding that a case of sedition be registered against Amnesty International.

The Karnataka Police filed an FIR under Section 124 (a) of the IPC amounting to sedition against the NGO on August 15. The case was registered at the J.C. Nagar police station.