Amit Shah slams Rahul over JNU row

BJP president Amit Shah on Monday launched a scathing attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for supporting JNU students charged with sedition, saying he lacked "national interest".

Gandhi, Shah said in a blog, must apologize for igniting "anti-national activities" at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The JNU students union president, Kanhaiya Kumar, has been arrested on sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-national slogans in the campus during a meeting on Kashmir on February 9. Kumar has denied the charge.

"No citizen can accept that a terrorist is favoured and anti-India slogans raised at a prestigious university," Shah said.

"But the kind of statements Rahul Gandhi and his party colleagues have delivered at the campus proves there is no place for national interest in their thinking."

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had succeeded in controlling "anti-national sentiments in Kashmir" but the Congress "is igniting unfortunate anti-national activities at JNU".

Shah said: "I demand an answer from Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi over the issue. I also demand Rahul Gandhi to apologize to the nation for his acts."

The JNU has been on the boil over the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges after some students organised a meeting to mark the anniversaries of the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat. Anti-India slogans were allegedly raised there.

Shah said that Rahul Gandhi was not able to "differentiate between anti-national and pro-national activity".

"Is this the definition of nationalism for Rahul Gandhi? By terming anti-national activities as student revolution and describing (the) action against anti-nationals as (an) attack on freedom of speech and expression, he has shown insensitivity towards country's unity.

"I want to ask Rahul Gandhi: Had it been in national interest if the government didn't act and remained silent? Are you not encouraging anti-national forces by staging support in their protest?"