Amnesty incident: Ananth Kumar criticises Karnataka govt

Union minister Ananth Kumar today charged the Congress government in Karnataka with "sympathising with supporters of terrorists" and taking action against nationalists following Amnesty International incident where pro-freedom Kashmiris allegedly raised "anti-India" slogans at an event last week.
"It is unfortunate that the Congress government under the Chief Ministership of Siddaramaiah has taken action against nationalists and sympathised with supporters of terrorists," he told reporters here.
Kumar made these allegation after meeting the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyatharti Parishad (ABVP) activists, who are staging a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue here over the issue.
The Union chemicals and fertiliser minister spent at least 45 minutes with the protesting activists, during which he appreciated their efforts to protect the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country.

"It is the duty of the Union and state governments to protect the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country. I am very happy about ABVP activists' efforts to do so by waging a fight against the present Congress government in Karnataka," he said.
The protesting activists submitted a memorandum demanding an National investigation Agency (NIA) investigation into the whole episode.
In reply, Kumar said he "would meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and convey the sentiments and feelings of the protestors and submit the memorandum seeking NIA investigation into the incident".
More than 300 protestors had assembled at the site, with ABVP National Secretary Vinay Bidre and Bangalore Central MP and BJP Leader P C Mohan participating in the protest.