Anyone born in India cannot be called anti-national, says Rajnath Singh
New Delhi: Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that it was wrong to call anyone born in India ‘anti-national.’
Speaking to NDTV, Rajnath said, “We can’t call any one anti-national, anyone who is born in India cannot be called an anti-national.”
There have been statements made by the BJP and RSS in the wake of the JNU row, intolerance row and others, labelling individuals anti-national and asking them to leave the country for Pakistan.
Read: BJP to fight UP polls on development plank, not Ram temple issue: Rajnath Singh
Well-known celebrities including actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan were asked to leave India after their comments on the growing intolerance in the country.
On the controversy over Ishrat Jahan’s murder and Batla House encounter, the home minister said, “As far as Ishrat Jahan case is concerned I’ve given my statements in the parliament and have informed that some papers are missing. I made a committee on this and they are investigating the issue. I do not think it was a staged encounter, and you know for a fact that this matter was in court. The court has also given its stand on this issue. This is the first time that Intelligence Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are in front of each other and this is quite unfortunate.”
Read: Jadavpur University hub of anti-nationals, VC supporting them: BJP
Singh denied allegations that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was letting those accused in Hindutva terror attacks go scot free. “NIA is an autonomous investigating agency. After our government was made I have tried to give maximum autonomy to it. They can now report directly to the law ministry”, he said.
Speaking about the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) controversy, Singh said, “I am a citizen of this country and there is a sense of pride that we take in the fact. But when I heard the slogans it hurt me.” Rajnath also took a shot at the Congress, saying that the Modi government had not fallen prey to a single allegation of corruption in two years, while the previous government was mired in corruption.
The Home Minister expressed confidence that BJP would do well in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. “We will go to Uttar Pradesh and fight with full force,” he said.
“I feel a person who is the home minister of the country should speak less. I speak when it's required but also take precautions while speaking on certain topics on which investigations are going on,” he quipped.
