P. Chidambaram crashed out on Arun Jaitley for ‘Alliance of Subversion’ comment
Former Indian Finance Minister Mr P Chidambaram lashed out Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley for his comment ‘ Alliance of Subversion’ on Sunday.
He questioned Mr Jaitley if he was heading an ‘ Alliance of Subversion’ when he has the President of DUSU in 1975.
Earlier, Yesterday, Mr Jaitley delivered a talk at London School of Economics where he remarked that there is an ‘alliance of subversion’ on certain Indian Campuses and that the ultra-left and separatists are speaking the same language.
He said that it was his personal belief that “free speech” in society needs to be debated, adding that “violence is however not the method”.
This comment came after the violent clash at Delhi University’s Ramjas College between activists of ABPV (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad- The RSS student Wing) and the other students’ group on 22nd February, during a march against forced suspension of an event.
Jaitley said, “I personally believe that free speech in India, and in any society, has to be debated. If you believe you have free speech to assault the sovereignty of the country, then be ready to concede free speech to counter that”.
He added, “Violence is not the method; no group can and should use violence… there is an alliance of subversion which is taking place. The separatists and the ultra-Left are speaking the same language in certain university campuses. So, they must be willing to allow others with a different opinion to put a counter viewpoint…I find this absolutely strange that an argument is being raised that I have free speech to advocate that India should be broken into pieces and those who oppose me are hindering that right to free speech. Well, they too have a right to free speech”.
Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in PM’s office said, “the groups advocating freedom of speech were not allowing others to speak. He said abusing the sovereignty of India had become a “fashion”.
If this is a sample of the kind of tolerance practised by this lobby, one wonders, one shudder, what kind of tolerance they expect from others.
Every nation, including some of the liberated democracies of the world like the US and UK, observe and also follow certain bottom lines which do not tend to question the integrity of the republic. Those who tend to do so, are possibly doing so to gain some kind of publicity and this has, of late, become a fashion in India, including among the so-called intellectuals who try to gain some headlines by abusing the sovereignty of Mother India”.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit states on the matter that, Jaitley was “scared” of the situation as he understands students’ politics.
He said, “Jaitley has been involved in students union activities; he understands the situation and he is scared… he believes what is happening today in Ramjas is more than what was happening in the 1970s”.