Ahead of Budget session, BJP plans nationalism campaign for masses

The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to strongly put forth its stand on the Jawaharlal Nehru University incident and also raise the testimony of Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley during the upcoming Parliament session to counter opposition onslaught by firing up a debate over its core theme of nationalism.

Party leaders said a decision has been taken to raise the Jawaharlal Nehru University row “very aggressively” in Parliament as they believe that there is no reason for the party to be “defensive” about the development and there is support for its stand on the issue among the masses.

The party is also launching a three-day ‘Jan Swabhimaan Abhiyan’ (campaign for peoples’ self-pride) starting Thursday in which party leaders and workers will try to build up public opinion against the alleged anti-national activities in the central varsity and in support of action against people involved in it.

As part of its attempt to bring focus on the issue of nationalism, party leaders said the recent sacrifices made by soldiers in Siachen will also be highlighted across the country.

“The idea is to highlight the party’s stand on the issue very aggressively from Parliament to the streets. We have a strong and consistent stand on what has happened in JNU and there is no reason for the party leaders to be defensive about the development,” sources said.

Headley’s deposition that Ishrat Jahan, who was killed in an alleged fake encounter in Gujarat in 2004, was a Laskar-e-Tayiba operative will also come handy for the saffron

party in cornering Congress, which has made it clear that it will target the treasury benches over a host of issues, including Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide, “intolerance” and the status of economy, during the Budget session beginning on February 23. 

Image: BJP members protest against the 'anti-national' slogans and activities that took place at JNU. Photograph: PTI