JNU stir: Opposition leaders lash out at Rajnath Singh over Hafiz Saeed remark

NEW DELHI: Rajnath Singh’s comment that the Jawaharlal Nehru University stir received support from Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed drew sharp reactions from Opposition party leaders, who asked the home minister to share the evidence. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said it was a "very serious charge" to level against the students and that the evidence must be shared with all.

Singh said that the incident at JNU had received support from Saeed. "This is a truth that the nation needs to understand. What has happened is very unfortunate. Never should have something been done which puts a question mark over the country’s sovereignty and integrity," he said, adding: "On such occasions, the entire country should be speaking in one voice. I would also appeal all political parties not to view such episodes through the prism of political gains and losses."

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI leader D Raja also demanded the minister to share the evidence he has with the country to back up the allegation.

A home ministry spokesperson later said the minister’s statement was based on consolidated inputs from security agencies. The Delhi Police meanwhile issued an alert through the official twitter handle of the commissioner’s office.


"This is to alert and sensitize the student community in JNU and across the country. Do not get carried away by such seditious anti-national rhetoric. Abetment of any kind of anti-national activity is a punishable offence," the tweet read. In the alert, the police pinned a tweet by the handle named HafeezSaeedJUD, which says: "We request our Pakistani brothers to trend #SupportJNU for our pro-Pakistani JNUite brothers."

This account was unverified and later blocked. In a series of tweets, Abdullah, a former Union minister who was the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from 2009 to 2015, said the home minister must go public with the evidence collected that enabled him to level the charge against the JNU students. Yechury said Rajnath has made a very serious allegation about terrorists "backing" JNU protests, adding: "We hope that he has concrete proof."