Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday asked Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to immediately withdraw cases against two senior leaders of the party if the latter believed in democracy.
BJP leaders Vinay Katiyar and Sahib Singh Verma have been booked for sedition and for spreading hatred on grounds of religion and race through their speeches in Jammu on June 9, when they had allegedly offered a reward to anyone who killed a terrorist.
Within two days of announcing a bounty for militants, Katiyar had backtracked from his offer, saying he was ready to apologise if his call to 'strengthen' village defence committees in the restive state was misunderstood.
In a written statement, Rajnath said, "It is constitutional right of any political party, more particularly the BJP that always believes in a strong and resurgent India, to protest against this gross mishandling of the scourge of terrorism and to institute cases of sedition for speaking against this."
"I have been hearing responsible public leaders openly demanding the freedom of Kashmir from India and involvement of Pakistan in any negotiations on parity with India. They were not charged with sedition... If Chief Minister Gulam Nabi Azad believes in democratic values, then he must withdraw all charges immediately," he said.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that even at the height of emergency in 1975, former prime minister Indira Gandhi had refrained from charging Jaiprakash Narain or any other leader with sedition.
"The sedition charge is a message to terrorists to go ahead with their activities. It is a message to them that any voice against them will be muzzled," he said.
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