Rijiju defends Rajnath; says Hafiz Saeed backing JNU incident

Unfazed by public outcry, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today defended his senior in the Home Ministry, Rajnath Singh, saying there were enough indications that Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed was backing the incident in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

"Intelligence inputs indicated that Hafiz Saeed and some related organisations were backing the JNU incident. That is what the Home Minister had said," he told reporters here.

Rijiju's comments came a day after Singh said that the JNU event in Delhi in memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had received "support" from terror outfit LeT founder Hafiz Saeed. The statement sparked a political row with opposition parties asking him to provide evidence.

"Intelligence inputs can't be shared or analysed in public. Political parties supporting the anti-nationals should learn what is patriotism," Rijiju said.

Coming down heavily against political parties and others who were extending support to the protesting students of JNU, Rijiju said some of the students of the university were trying to immortalise terrorist Afzal Guru, who was convicted and hanged for Parliament attack, and they even talked about "breaking India".

"There is a support group for a convicted terrorist who was hanged. The event was organised where people spoke about breaking India into pieces. And then they are getting support from political parties. This is very, very unfortunate," he said.

The Union Minister of State for Home said today, at a time, when the whole country was paying tribute to those martyrs who laid down their lives in Siachen, one section of the people was paying tribute to terrorists and their organisations.

"We are clear in our stand. Anything anti-national will be dealt firmly. Whether they are extreme Left or anyone. But no innocent will be harassed," he said.

Rijiju said raising slogans in favour of a convicted terrorist, Afzal Guru, was akin to endorsement of their anti-India designs.

He charged people belonging to extreme Left ideology with playing with the image of the country. Seeking to portray police action against some JNU students similar to action against terrorists hiding in Golden Temple in 1984, Rijiju said (the then Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi had acted against militants hiding in Golden temple but that was not an action against the shrine but against terrorists. "Police acted against some students of JNU. It was not an action against the institution," he said.