Should Deepika visit Nagpur if not JNU: Cong

The Congress on Wednesday took a swipe at the BJP, asking if Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone should visit the RSS headquarters in Nagpur instead of JNU.

The opposition party's reaction came amid calls, including from some BJP functionaries, to boycott Padukone's upcoming movie 'Chhapaak' for her visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru University on Tuesday to express solidarity with the students who were attacked by a mob.

"The ruling party has reduced (itself) to indulging in petty social media polls, faking videos. Should she (Deepika Padukone) go to Nagpur, the Sangh headquarters, to promote her movie? What do they want this country to be?" Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, when asked about a strong reaction from a quarter of the BJP on the actor's visit to the university.

Khera said the government is filing FIRs against students and youth instead of hearing them out.

"If someone is showing concern to the protesting youth, you raise questions on him/her," he said, alleging the ruling BJP claims it is the world's largest party but it has a "small heart".

"If there is unrest across universities, we expect the Prime Minister to go there, we expect the Home Minister, the senior leader of the BJP to go and listen to the youth of this country, whichever campus we are talking about," he said in reference to protests by youth and students on various campuses.

On Padukone's visit to the JNU and the BJP's criticism of it, Khera alleged the ruling party sees "bad intent" everywhere.

He alleged that the prime minister, home minister and other BJP leaders have never heard or answered the youth on their problems.