Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his colleagues on the first day of the Budget session (PTI Photo).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told BJP lawmakers on Tuesday evening to "aggressively debate" the JNU issue in Parliament today. He was speaking at the BJP Parliamentary party executive committee meeting.
The government and opposition will debate the JNU incident and Hyderabad University Scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide in Rajya Sabha today.
A united opposition plans to target the government's handling of the JNU incident - the police swooping down on the campus at night and the slapping of tough sedition charges on students. The government too is preparing to respond with aggression.
A clear indication that the NDA will launch an unapologetic counter offensive on the JNU issue came during the meeting of the BJP's top leaders in Parliament on Tuesday evening. Here, PM Modi is said to have told party lawmakers, "The government is working fine and has a lot to show. The opposition is raking up non issues like JNU that the party needs to debate and contest aggressively."
Party chief Amit Shah too said, "The government has done nothing wrong." At the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley spoke on the legal aspects of the JNU case, including the sedition law. He told lawmakers of a Supreme Court judgment on the law that said raising anti-national slogan amounts to sedition.
The party's lawmakers were told to counter the opposition by citing the arrest of Kashmiri terrorist Muhammad Ghauri from JNU during Congress-led UPA rule. They were also asked to rake up how two army officers were beaten up badly on the university campus, during the debate.
Mr Modi also held a meeting with NDA allies after meeting his party's lawmakers. He said the government wants Parliament to run during this session and has met opposition leaders four times ahead of the session to ensure that. The Shiv Sena backed the BJP's plan to go aggressive on the JNU issue but advised caution on Mr Vemula's suicide. "We asked for caution on the Hyderabad University scholar's suicide incident. The case involves a Dalit student and an aggressive stance will hurt the government and parties in the NDA," a Sena leader told NDTV.