Kapil Sibal flays government for calling critics anti-national

A senior Congress leader on Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government for what the party said was branding its critics as anti-nationals, adding the real threat to national security were those who invited 'enemies' to defence establishments.

"This government says asking questions is not allowed. Whoever asks questions or criticises the government will be branded as a traitor, an anti-national. That is why they banned a channel," former Union minister Kapil Sibal said while referring to a one-day ban, since held in abeyance, on Hindi channel NDTV India.

"Whoever criticises the government and asks questions is deemed a threat to national security. But the real threat to national security are those who don't know how terrorists entered the country and attacked us and killed our forces," said Sibal.

Referring to several terror incidents in the past, Sibal questioned the government's accountability.

"Who has been held accountable for the lapses in the (January 2) Pathankot and (September 18) Uri attacks? The responsibility is of the government, but if you question, you are called a traitor, a threat to national security.

"The real threat to national security are those who invite our enemies to our territory, to our defence and military establishments. Why did Prime Minister Narendra Modi allow the (officials of) Inter-Services Intelligence to visit the Pathankot air base," asked Sibal while referring to the visit of Pakistan's joint investigation team after the attack at Pathankot in Punjab.

"Questions will be asked, if that were the case. Why did Modi ask questions during the (2008) Mumbai terror attacks? When the terror attacks were on, Modi criticised the government. Did that not make Modi anti-national?" asked Sibal.

--IANS

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