Indian politics sinks to new lows.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Kailash Chaudhary, a BJP leader and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Barmer’s Baytoo constituency in Rajasthan, stoked a new controversy by calling the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi a ‘traitor’ and said he should be hanged or shot for supporting the students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
Chaudhary, who was speaking at a farmer’s conference in his constituency, was referring to Gandhi’s visit at JNU to take part in the protest staged by the students against the arrest of student’s union president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges.
“Wherever anti-national and pro-Pakistan slogans are raised, Rahul Gandhi goes and sides with those people. If Rahul Gandhi, who is called the ‘rajkumar’ of Congress, goes and sides with these people, stands with them and supports them then it is treason,” Chaudhary said.
“Rahul Gandhi is a traitor. Such a traitor should be punished, hanged and shot,” he added.
Later, when some media persons approached him, he reiterated his views and said that whoever speaking against the nation is traitors and they should be hanged or shot to death.
While addressing the students at JNU, Rahul Gandhi had attacked the BJP government and its parent organization RSS. He said Kanhaiya Kumar just expressed his opinion, but the government labeled him as anti-national.
“The RSS is trying to impose its flawed ideology on the students of the nation and we won’t let that happen”, Gandhi said on Thursday.
“This nation will prosper because of our students’ imagination. Imposing an ideology on them will not benefit the nation,” he added.
Gandhi along with congress leaders visited Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum raising concern over the happenings at JNU.
“Nationalism is in my blood, I have seen my family sacrifice for this nation. If anyone said something against the nation he should be punished according to law. However, it’s not the government’s job to destroy educational institutions and crush its students,” he said after meeting the President.
But Allahabad High Court has ordered to register a sedition case against Gandhi for his statements at JNU.