"Goofy minister" Rijiju should refrain from making remarks on nationalism: Congress

New Delhi [India], Feb. 27 (ANI): Branding Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju as a "goofy minister" for dubbing the recent clashes between the All India Students' Association (AISA) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Ramjas College as an act of anti-nationalism, the Congress on Monday said that the former should refrain from making statements on issues which he cannot understand. Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said that Rijiju is frivolously branding students as anti-nationals, whereas the reality is that the MoS has no knowledge about the veracity of the situation. "Whatever happened between AISA and ABVP should not be subjected to an act of anti-nationalism. Sometimes, Kiren Rijiju speaks like a 'goofy minister', neither he went there nor he is able to comprehend anything. Similarly in the past he had branded some JNU students as anti nationals. Just because the protest was against the government doesn't mean they should be dubbed as anti-national," Dikshit told ANI. The Congress' statement came in response to Rijiju's remark on clashes between the Left-affiliated AISA and the RSS-backed ABVP in Delhi University's North Campus. Rijiju yesterday said that nobody has the "absolute right" to define nationalism, but anyone who wants to break India and supports terrorists can be called an "anti-national". He also said under the guise of freedom of expression even some students "fantasise" about "breaking" India. "Nobody has the absolute right to define nationalism but anybody who wants to break India, supports Afzal Guru and terrorists is anti-national," he said in a tweet. (ANI)