No anti-national programmes in varsities: Venkaiah Naidu

Chennai: Issuing a stern warning against those who incited the students, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the NDA government will not permit any anti-national programmes on university campus.

Accusing the Congress and the Left parties of carrying out a “vicious, slanderous and misinformation campaign” on the “tragic death” of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University and the “blatantly anti-national event organised under the garb of a cultural evening at JNU” Mr. Naidu said the two parties hijacked public discourse and created social unrest and dissension especially at a time when the Centre was straining every sinew to make the country’s economy vibrant and make it come out of the deep morass created by the decade-long scam-tainted UPA regime.

“Yes. We will proceed legally. Law will take its own course,” he replied when asked if the Centre would take action on those inciting the students. “Students go to university to study and parents spend money on their education. If you want to eat beef you eat, if you want to kiss, do so in a room but why the thamasha, why spoil the atmosphere of the university? Why hold functions to glorify Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon,” he thundered during a brief chat with reporters amidst his hectic campaign in the city on Friday.

In his own inimitable style he remarked, he wanted “the students to do their duty (to study) and become mighty and that’s the beauty (of education).” Recalling the resignation of Raju Kumar Sahu as general secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI) citing the “opportunistic politics of SFI” and various other charges of Sahu, Mr. Naidu said though Sahu’s resignation was not important, the serious questions he raised over the left parties were his own comments that how for political reasons they exploited the sentiments of the students.

“The HCU students’ union secretary made startling revelations exposing the role of the Left and Congress in Rohith Vemula’s episode. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi should answer why Rahul Gandhi visited the HCU twice and did have the time to visit Kerala where a dalit girl was raped and murdered brutally,” the minister asked.