SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Bengaluru: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president BK Hariprasad on Tuesday, September 15, hit out at the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for opposing the screening of a documentary on activist Umar Khalid at the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru.
Reacting to the controversy at Vidhana Soudha, Hariprasad defended Khalid and said the ABVP had no moral standing to question him.
“Umar Khalid is a nationalist. The ABVP has no right to speak about him,” Hariprasad said, strongly objecting to the student organisation’s opposition to the documentary screening.
The Congress leader alleged that the ABVP’s criticism of Khalid was hypocritical and questioned the organisation’s credentials to make judgments on nationalism.
“The ABVP admires and worships Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi. Godse was anti-national and the first terrorist of the country,” he said.
“They have no moral right to speak about Umar Khalid,” Hariprasad said.
The remarks came amid opposition from ABVP members to the proposed screening of a documentary concerning Khalid at the National Law School in Bengaluru. The issue has triggered a political debate over freedom of expression, campus activities and the boundaries of student organisations’ participation in such programmes.
Hariprasad’s comments are likely to intensify the political exchange surrounding the proposed screening, with the Congress and ABVP taking sharply different positions on the event.
The ABVP has objected to the screening, while Hariprasad has questioned the organisation’s authority to raise objections to Khalid.
The controversy has also brought the broader debate over nationalism and political expression on university campuses back into focus, with political leaders and student groups taking contrasting positions on the participation of controversial public figures and the screening of documentaries related to them.
SOURCE : SIASAT
