Kanhaiya Kumar, Major Arya lock horns over 'Azadi' slogans across Delhi University campuses

In wake of the divided reactions to the violence that ensued over clashes between ABVP and students of Ramjas College on February 21, retired Army Major Gaurav Arya today slammed activist Kanhaiya Kumar over slogans of Azadi in campus.

Arya condemned the ongoing controversy over the 'Azadi' sloganeering stating that anybody who went against the nation angered him. To this Kanhaiya responded that the law and order was there to decide on who is anti-national and posing threat to the sovereignty. Why do we need mobs to carry out policing, asked Kanhaiya.

THE LINE BETWEEN FREE SPEECH AND SEDITION

"I have always supported free speech. The problem is that there is a very thin line. When they say that the nation is fragmented, the idea is not India is strong or weak. This is clearly blasphemy, as tomorrow anyone can come and say that anyone can abuse anyone's parents. Country is bigger than anything; Will not allow anyone to tarnish it," said Major Arya.

The former soldier added that the people are free to criticise the government, PM Modi or Amit Shah. According to him if people said that India will be divided, there is a possibility of dire consequences including violence.

When asked about the sloganeering in various universities and subversion of the country, Kanhaiya said that slogans demanding freedom does not always mean a separatist movement.

NOBODY TALKS ABOUT DIVISION OF INDIA

"Citizens of this country love it and a majority of them never talk about disintegrating it. The people who are trying to divide the nation are they above the law? It seems efforts are being made to dilute the entire debate. If anybody is doing wrong, there is law and order. Nobody has the right to take law in their hands," said Kanhaiya.

Kanhaiya said that people are vilifying others just to prove their patriotism. He slammed those brandishing the national flag and chest-thumping about patriotism. The student leader asked where was their patriotism when 11 people suspected of ISIS links were recently arrested.

"Universities across the nation are under a neo-liberal attack, which is also an anti-people policy to dismantle these institutions," he added.

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Kanhaiya went on to say that the video posted by Gurmehar Kaur was over a year old and asked why is a clamour around it now. "Now that she has taken a stand against ABVP, a particular portion of the video is being extracted and circulated subjecting her to different kinds of threats. He asked who are these elements that want to snatch people rights by labelling them," he said.

"Nothing in Gurmehar's video is anti-national. I disagree with the slide where she said that Pakistan did not kill her father. Calling for the freedom of Bastar and Kashmir is pure blasphemy," said Major Arya.

FREEDOM CALL FOR KASHMIR, BASTAR

"Students asking for freedom of these areas is absolute treason. None of these students have been to these places. If this goes on then tomorrow every people demand freedom for every other state," said Major Arya.

To this Kanhaiya said that he too comes from a family of a martyr. "We only ask freedom from social and economical issues like poverty and hunger," he said. He said that student protests does not also give factions like ABVP to use violence.

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Major Arya slammed Kanhaiya for supporting the sloganeering in support of freedom for Kashmir and Bastar. While Kanhaiya said that if it a case sedition there is law and enforcement to take care of it, he asked Major Arya why there is a selective anger.

ON HURRIYAT AGENDA OF SEPARATION

When Major Arya asked Kanhaiya if he backed the forces that are working towards the disintegration of Kashmir from India, he said that he did not support such groups. He went on to slam BJP for allying with PDP.

Saket Bahaguna, National Media Convener of ABVP, demanded strong action against Kanhaiya for propagating anti-national sentiments. Bahaguna accused Kanhaiya of organising the event in 2016 where anti-national slogans were raised. In his response to Bahaguna, Kanhaiya said that he will move court against ABVP for defamation.

In the purview of Supreme Court, sedition amounts to inciting people to take up arms against the nation, while mere sloganeering and chants against India is not sedition. When asked if there was an attempt to change the definition of sedition, Major Arya said that it was not and that the ongoing uproar is further proliferating violence and extremism in the areas that are in contention.

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