Amnesty incident: Ananth Kumar criticises Karnataka govt

Bengaluru, Aug 21 (PTI) Union minister Ananth Kumar todaycharged the Congress government in Karnataka with"sympathising with supporters of terrorists" and taking actionagainst nationalists following Amnesty International incidentwhere pro-freedom Kashmiris allegedly raised "anti-India"slogans at an event last week. "It is unfortunate that the Congress government underthe Chief Ministership of Siddaramaiah has taken actionagainst nationalists and sympathised with supporters ofterrorists," he told reporters here. Kumar made these allegation after meeting the AkhilBharatiya Vidyatharti Parishad (ABVP) activists, who arestaging a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue here overthe issue. The Union chemicals and fertiliser minister spent atleast 45 minutes with the protesting activists, during whichhe appreciated their efforts to protect the unity, integrityand sovereignty of the country. "It is the duty of the Union and state governments toprotect the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country.I am very happy about ABVP activists’ efforts to do so bywaging a fight against the present Congress government inKarnataka," he said. The protesting activists submitted a memorandum demandingan National investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into thewhole episode. In reply, Kumar said he "would meet Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh and convey the sentiments and feelings of theprotestors and submit the memorandum seeking NIA investigationinto the incident". More than 300 protestors had assembled at the site, withABVP National Secretary Vinay Bidre and Bangalore CentralMP and BJP Leader P C Mohan participating in the protest.PTI BDN RC RG SCRG