Sedition law: Rijiju hits back at Rahul, asks Congress to check its past actions

Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday dubbed Congress as the antithesis of freedom democracy and respect for institutions while hitting back at Rahul Gandhi for his remark that telling the truth is patriotism not treason after the Supreme Court put on hold the application of sedition lawThe Congress party and its ecosystem have no right to give sermons to others the minister said while referring to several decisions of the previous Congress governments including the imposition of Emergency and asked if the opposition party had checked its past actionsIn a Twitter post after the top courts directions on Section 124A of the IPC former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said telling the truth is patriotism not treason and listening to the truth is Rajdharma while crushing the truth is arroganceDo not fear he urged the people while the Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said speaking truth to power is true nationalism and the true test of how committed one is to the country and the peopleRijiju too took to Twitter to counter Rahul Gandhi saying these were empty words by the Congress leaderIf there is one party that is the antithesis of freedom democracy and respect for institutions it is the Indian National Congress This party has always stood with Breaking India forces and left no opportunity to divide India he saidIn a series of tweets the BJP leader targeted former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi over the issue of sedition law and freedom of expressionIt was the Indira Gandhi government which made Section 124A a cognisable offence for the first time in Indias history This happened in the new Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 which came into force in 1974 Has Congress checked its own past actions the minister wonderedWhen it comes to trampling over free speech Mrs Indira Gandhi Ji is a Gold Medal Winner We all know about the Emergency but do you also know she imposed Article 356 over 50 times She came up with the idea of a Committed Judiciary to weaken the Judiciary our 3rd pillar he claimedThe law minister also said the First Amendment was brought in by first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru It was SP Mookerjee and the Jana Sangh which stood in opposition to this measure aimed at curtailing freedom of expression Nehru ji also dismissed the democratically elected Government in Kerala he saidRijiju asserted that the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will always protect the unity integrity and sovereignty of India It will also protect the values enshrined in our Constitution Congress party and its ecosystem of the Tukde Tukde gang have no right to give sermons to others he shot backRijiju alleged that during the Anna movement and other anticorruption campaigns those not toeing the UPA line were subjected to bullying harassment intimidation and arrestsAll this under the watchful eyes of the UPA he said taking a jibe at the Congressled allianceThe union minister claimed that the then UPA government had the worst track record of filing sedition casesIn 2012 thousands of people had sedition cases filed against them under the watchful eyes of Recounting Minister P Chidambaram he claimed Chidambaram had been the union home ministerPutting on hold the sedition law the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the registration of FIRs ongoing probes and coercive measures on the matter across the country until an appropriate forum of the government reexamines the colonialera penal lawIn its significant order on the law that has been under intense public scrutiny a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said there was a need to balance the interest of civil liberties and the interests of citizens with that of the stateThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever