Amit Shah compares Indira Gandhi to Hitler

New Delhi: In a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi over the JNU row, BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday said he had "proved" that national interest had no place in his mind and asked if the Congress vice-president had joined hands with separatist forces and wanted another division of India.

Speaking on the raging controversy for the first time, Shah asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul a host of questions and demanded that he apologise for his stand on the JNU issue, saying support to anti-national forces in the name of the Left's progressive ideology is not acceptable.

The BJP president's tough stand indicates that the party is willing to slug it out with Congress and other opposition parties over an issue it believes will help reaffirm its nationalist credentials and put the opposition in a corner.

"An attempt was made to defame a leading university in the national capital by turning it into a centre which encourages terrorism and separatism. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if it would be in national interest had the central government kept quiet?

"Are you not encouraging traitors by protesting in support of these anti-nationals?", Shah wrote in a blog.

Noting that slogans like 'Pakistan zindabad', 'go India, go back' and those in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Kashmir's independence and India's destruction were raised in JNU, he wondered if the Congress leader had joined hands with separatists.

Does he want another division of India by giving a free run to separatists in the name of freedom of expression? The kind of statements the Congress vice president and other leaders of his party have made in JNU have proved again that national interest has no place in their mind," Shah said.

He said Congress was in despair and frustrated over the success of the Modi government and its leaders were unable to decide how they can play the role of a responsible opposition.

He claimed that Modi government has succeeded in "controlling anti-national sentiments" even in Kashmir but Congress was fuelling the "shameful incident" in JNU despite being the main opposition party.

"I seek answers from Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi to my questions on behalf of 125 crore countrymen and also demand that Rahul Gandhi apologise to the country for his action," he said.

Shah alleged that Rahul Gandhi "in his despair" was unable to distinguish between what is against national interest and what is in its favour and asserted that what happened in JNU could never be said to be in the interest of country.

He wondered if this was the definition of patriotism for him and accused him of showing insensitivity to the country's integrity by projecting "treason as student revolution" and action against this treason as suppression of the freedom of expression.

The Congress leader had visited the JNU campus on Saturday and hit out at the government over a student leader's arrest, virtually drawing a parallel of its conduct with the regime of Hitler and accusing it suppressing students' voice.

Hitting back, the BJP chief said the nearest independent India came to be identified with Hitler's Germany was when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975.

"Hitler-waad (Hitlerism) is in the DNA of Congress. BJP does not need to learn nationalism and democratic values from Congress. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if 1975's Emergency defines the democratic values of his party and does he not recognise Indira Gandhi's mindset as that of Hitler?" he asked.

Ho noted that the accused students glorified Guru who was convicted in the case of Parliament attack in which six Delhi police personnel, two Parliament security personnel and a gardener had died.

"I will ask him if he will give a similar tribute to 10 soldiers, including Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who sacrificed their lives in Siachen recently," he said.

JNU teachers join strike, will hold classes on nationalism

New Delhi: JNU teachers on Tuesday joined the students in boycotting classes in protest against arrest of its student union leader in a sedition case and said they would take classes on "nationalism" in the varsity lawns.

The students had on Monday gone on an indefinite strike till JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar is released and the sedition case against him dropped.

After 10 teachers and a group of students were attacked on Monday in the Patiala House court complex where Kanhaiya was produced, the teachers association decided to join the students in boycotting classes.

"The administration is not only acting against students but also teachers and we are being openly attacked while the VC stays mum over it. The entire world is now referring to JNU as a hub of anti-nationals on the basis of propaganda of a few people in power. It is time we teach our students what nationalism is," said Rohith Azad, a faculty member, who was among those who were attacked.

The one-and-half-hour long lecture on "nationalism " will be held every evening at 5 in front of the administration block.

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested last week in connection with a case of sedition and criminal conspiracy registered over holding of the event at the varsity during which anti-India slogans were alleged to have been raised.

His arrest has triggered widespread outrage among students and teachers and drawn severe criticism from non-BJP political parties.

The university teachers had earlier rallied behind its protesting students and questioned the administration's decision to allow the police crackdown on the campus even as they appealed to the public not to "brand" the institution as "anti-national" but they had not joined the strike earlier.

Teachers' bodies of 40 central universities and Pune-based FTII had also come out in support of the agitating students, saying it is an issue of "indiscipline" and not "sedition".

Over 400 academicians from international varsities, including Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, SOAS, University of Toronto, McGill, King's College, University of California, Berkeley and New York University have also expressed solidarity with JNU students condemning the "illegal" detention and "autocratic" suspension of students.

FIR filed over attack on journalists: Delhi Police chief

New Delhi: A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Tuesday over some lawyers thrashing journalists at a city court here on Monday, Delhi Police said.

"We have registered an FIR in connection with the incident that occurred in the court yesterday (Monday). We are looking into the matter," Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said here at a function of 69th Raising Day of Delhi Police.

"We are taking all steps to identify the people and action will be taken as per the course of law," he added.

When questioned about alleged police inaction during the thrashing, Bassi said: "If it is proved that police did not perform its duty or showed laxity, appropriate action would be taken against those as well."

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also attended the event, said: "An inquiry is going on over the incident." However, Rajnath Singh, who had earlier claimed a link between terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and the protests at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, refused to disclose any details.

Four journalists, including one from IANS, and some JNU students were assaulted at the Patiala House courts by a section of lawyers.

IANS reporter Amiya Kumar Kushwaha was slapped inside a courtroom while some other journalists were attacked within the court premises by lawyers who were raising "Bharat Mata ki Jai" slogans.

The incident took place just before the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested on charges of sedition, was to be presented before a court.