The BJP on Monday hardened its position on the JNU row with Party president Amit Shah accusing Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi of encouraging “anti-national and secessionist” elements on the university campus.

Demanding to know whether Gandhi wanted “another partition of India”, Shah said he should apologise for his stand on the JNU issue.

The Congress leader had visited the JNU campus on Saturday, hit out at the BJP-led government on the matter of a student leader’s arrest and drew a parallel with Hitler’s regime. The BJP has since been smarting over Rahul’s call to the students to “not be bullied” and his labelling of the BJP as “anti-national”.

The BJP President hit back with equally sharp words. “An attempt was made to defame a leading university in the national capital and turning it into a centre of terrorism and separatism. Would it have been in national interest had the Centre kept quiet; Rahul Gandhi should answer. Are you not encouraging traitors by protesting in support of these anti-nationals?” Shah wrote in a blog. Noting that slogans such as ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, ‘Go India, Go Back’ and those in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Kashmir’s independence and India’s destruction were raised in JNU, he wondered if the Congress leader had joined hands with separatists.

“Does he [Rahul] want another division of India by giving a free run to separatists in the name of freedom of expression?” Shah said.

The BJP chief said the nearest independent India came to be identified with Hitler’s Germany was when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975.

“Hitler-waad is in the DNA of Congress. BJP does not need to learn nationalism and democratic values from Congress. I want to asked Rahul Gandhi if 1975’s Emergency defines the democratic values of his party and does he not recognise Indira Gandhi’s mindset as that of Hitler (sic)?” he asked.

Shah noted that the accused students glorified Guru, who was convicted in the Parliament attack case in which six Delhi police personnel, two Parliament security personnel and a gardener died. “I will ask him (Rahul Gandhi) if he will give a similar tribute to 10 soldiers, including Lance Naik Hanumanthappa, who sacrificed their lives in Siachen recently,” he said.

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