Shashi Tharoor defended Karnataka minister's clean chit to Amnesty in a case of alleged sedition.
National security does not get compromised when a few people shout slogans, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor today said, defending Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara's clean chit to Amnesty International in a case of alleged sedition slapping which he contended was a "big mistake".
"National security of our country is not going to be compromised by few people shouting slogans. We are stronger than that, we are bigger than that, we are better than that," Mr Tharoor told Press Trust of India on the sidelines of a conference on IPR organised by OP Jindal Global University (JGU).
"Charging Amnesty with sedition law was already a big mistake. The NGO has not advocated violence and no one at the conference did so," he said, adding "we are not at war at the moment. We don't have to think in terms of treason and all." The former diplomat advocated a law that criminalises any appeal or incitement to violence.
"What we need is a law that criminalises any appeal to violence and incitement to violence and encouragement to violence but not the expression of political opinions or opinions we don't like," Mr Tharoor added.
Yesterday, Mr Parameshwara had said that Amnesty has never involved itself in any kind of anti-national activity after the human rights organisation was slapped with sedition charges over an event held by it in Bengaluru where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.
Mr Tharoor, a Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, while delivering his valedictory address to plenary session of the international conference on 'Innovation for shared prosperity: IPRs, competition and standard setting in the ICT sector' organised by JGU and Jindal Initiative on Research in IP and Competition, said the government should encourage local telecom manufacturers to invest in India.