He asserted that the security of the country should be above everything else (File)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday slammed the opposition for its "coloured" view of the government's decision to scrap the sedition law and replace the section with "offences against the state."
Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills to replace colonial-era criminal laws, Mr Shah said the government had made a clear distinction between the British-era definition of sedition (rajdroh - offences against the government) and 'deshdroh' - offences against the state.
Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code has been replaced with Section 152 in the Bhartiya Nyay Samhita and sedition has been replaced with "offences against the state" (deshdroh).
"These people (opposition) try to misrepresent our move to scrap the provision for sedition and replace it with offenses against the state," Mr Shah said, referring to the almost empty opposition benches.
AIMIM leaders Asaduddin Owaisi and Imtiaz Jaleel, YSRCP, and BJD members were present on the opposition benches.
"The sedition law introduced by the British continued till today. They (opposition) used to oppose the law, but when in power, they misused the law, never spoke of repealing it," Mr Shah said.
"We are an independent nation, in a democracy anybody can criticize the government. Everybody has the right to criticize the government. Now, nobody will have to go to jail for criticising the government, even if it is our government," Mr Shah said.
"But, nobody can speak against the nation, nobody can harm the interests of the nation. The flag of this country, the borders of this country, the resources of this country ... If anybody messes with the resources of this country, then definitely he will go to jail," Mr Shah said.
He asserted that the security of the country should be above everything else.
"It should be supreme. 'Nation first' should be our principle." The minister said the IPC did not define sedition, its purpose, or intent, but the Bharat Nyay Samhita has.
"If the intent is to indulge in offences against the nation, then one should get the strictest of punishment. But, if the intention is to speak against the government, then there should be no action as freedom of expression exists," Mr Shah said.
He said the words "attempts to bring hatred or contempt against the government" in the previous section have been replaced with "secession or armed rebellion or subversive activities." "If someone believes that persons indulging in armed rebellion, secession or subversive activities should not be jailed, I strongly disagree.
Such persons should go to jail, they should be punished. No one has such a right," Mr Shah said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)