‘Can hate speech be free speech ’ Jaitley asks Opposition over JNU row

JNU is not a sovereign territory that the police cannot enter its campus, said Jaitley.

New Delhi:

Soon after Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu tabled the rail budget in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the house discussed the contentious JNU row and Rohith Vemula issue. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at the opposition for politicising the JNU row and asked if ‘hate speech’ can be referred to ‘free speech’ in reference to the alleged anti-national slogans that were raised by students in the University.

Here are the highlights from Arun Jaitley’s speech:

JNU is not a sovereign territory that the (Delhi) police cannot enter. If Indian penal code is being violated, police is in its right to enter.

If some student belonging to weaker section of society suffers distress, humanity says it must be addressed.

Some accused have been arrested, the Home Minister said police will be fair. Please don’t camouflage this great offence that has taken place

Congress lost two Prime Ministers to terrorism; they should condemn this more strictly than we are.

Here are the highlights from Venkaiah Naidu’s speech:

We cannot tolerate such anti-national activities in our campuses, we cannot allow our youth to be misled. Lakhs of student leaders were put behind bars in your(Cong) regime under MISA, and you are telling us about dissent. Unlike past Govts where PM presides and madam decides, in our Govt PM presides and team decides.

We have tolerated you for so many decades, you also tolerate us for atleast 10 years first-Venkaiah Naidu.