It's not 'anti-national' to differ over ideologies:Ahmed Patel

Joining the debate on JNU row, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel today said it is not right to call someone "anti-national" just because that person believes in an ideology that is at variance with thoughts of a particular party.
During a brief interaction with the media here, Patel also supported Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's stand on the JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) issue.
"People having a different ideology (than that of a particular party) should not be branded as anti-national. Rahulji also went to the JNU campus and said people must be allowed to express their views and opinions. I completely agree with Rahulji," said the Political Secretary of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

In an apparent reference to BJP student wing ABVP, Patel alleged attempts are being made by a student union to take control of the JNU campus.
"It is condemnable if someone is really involved in anti -national activities. It is equally condemnable if some student union, having political backing, wants to capture and dominate the campus through this issue," said Patel.
Rahul yesterday visited JNU to meet the students protesting the arrest of their students' union leader Kanhaiya Kumar. Kanhaiya, booked for sedition, was arrested on Friday over a protest organised in the premier institute's premises in New Delhi on February 9 against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Commenting on former IB Special Director Rajendra Kumar's claims that a senior Congress leader from Gujarat had hatched a conspiracy to falsely implicate then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case, Patel said the charge was "baseless and malicious".
"Why should anyone bother about Kumar's claims when he is making them to save his own skin? I don't know to whom Kumar was referring to. But, whoever he is, one must not malign image of a political leader without any proof. His allegations are totally baseless and malicious," said Patel.