Vowing to take forward the “ideological battle” on nationalism, Union Minister Arun Jaitley Saturday said BJP has won the first round as people who raised anti-India slogans till now have been forced to say “Jai Hind, if not Bharat mata ki jai”.
Raising the pitch on the issue, Jaitley also took a swipe at Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi who had visited JNU following an event where anti-India slogans had been raised and said, “Some people are questioning the nationalism of Savarkar, who inspired lakhs and crores of countrymen. These very people are attending programmes of those who talk of breaking up India.”
“This is a huge challenge for us. This is a big ideological challenge. We should consider this an ideological battle and I feel we have won its first round. Now people who were raising slogans against the country have started saying they will chant ‘Jai Hind’, if not ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’.
“Atleast they have been said something to convey their allegiance to the country. This was your ideological victory that you forced them to say this,” he said while addressing the Executive Committee meeting of Delhi BJP.
Jaitley said while BJP’s ideology is inspired by nationalism, “it is a strange situation where talking about breaking the country is called freedom of expression. The law or Constitution does not permit this anywhere. And it is happening in the national capital.”
Asking party workers in Delhi to reach out to SCs/STs and women, Jaitley said Government will in the next few days launch the ‘Stand Up India’ scheme where every bank branch will give Rs one crore loans to SC/STs and women to start big ventures and become big entrepreneurs. (Agencies)
