This is playing politics the other way around, said Jagdeep Dhankhar. (FILE)
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar hit out at the "narrative set afloat" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hungarian-American businessman critic George Soros, on Tuesday saying those who play politics the other way around need to be combated, neutralised and must face rational questioning.
Mr Dhankhar said India has a robust legal system where things are realised for the high and mighty, including the Prime Minister.
"For two decades, the issue was deliberated in judicial quarters, thoroughly investigated at all levels. The highest court of the land, the highest court of the largest democracies pronounced on all fronts in 2022 finally, and we have a narrative being set afloat by a documentary, some people say this is expression," the Vice President said in an apparent reference to the BBC documentary on Narendra Modi.
"So in the name of expression can you run down the Supreme Court, can you run down two decades of thorough investigation? This is playing politics the other way around. When people choose to play politics the other way around, the young minds here and outside are intellectually equipped to challenge them," he said while addressing the students after inaugurating the Centre for Innovation at IIT Madras.
The controversial BBC documentary titled "India: The Modi Question" pertains to the 2002 Gujarat riots when PM Modi was the chief minister of that state.
Without mentioning names, he said "there is one gentleman somewhere using some money power, he has some backers, he has some beneficiaries, he has some fiscal parasites and they talk about our country's democracy. I have been appalled, pained, how can a sane mind compare us with a southern country without neighbours?" He appealed to the students to be on guard and vindicate the trust of the founding fathers, if they have to take this country to 2047.
"Those who play politics the other way around needs to be combated, neutralised and they must face your rational questioning," Mr Dhankhar said.
The Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub is IIT Madras' first architect-designed built space dedicated to student-led activities funded by alumni and the government.
The new facility was inaugurated in the presence Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi, IIT Madras director, V Kamakoti, and founder, CAMS Pvt. Ltd V Shankar.
It is dedicated to supporting and encouraging Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) activities of the students and researchers.
Besides CFI, the Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub also hosts Nirmaan, a pre-incubator that supports to convert student-led technology projects into successful start-ups.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)