Pak praise boomerangs on actor
Terming Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement on Pakistan as silly and stupid, actor-turned-politician and Congress leader Ramya on Tuesday waded into a controversy for praising the neighbouring nation.
After returning from a SAARC conference organised in Islamabad for young parliamentarians, Ramya said people of Pakistan are warm, hospitable and very friendly. “Pakistan is not hell. People there are just like us. They treated us very well," she told reporters in Mandya which she represented in Lok Sabha in 2013-14.
That was on Sunday. For a day, nothing happened. But a lawyer sensed an opportunity to get some publicity and filed a private complaint in a court in Somwarpet in Kodagu district
seeking action on sedition and other charges against her for "insulting" Indian patriots. This alerted the BJP and ABVP activists who took to the social media and to the streets in Bengaluru. They called the multilingual actor an antinational and wanted her to apologise. The Somwarpet lawyer, in his complaint, has accused Ramya of "insulting" India and "provoking" people by appreciating Pakistan which is a "traditional enemy of India." On Tuesday, reacting to the controversy, a defiant Ramya said if her comment on Pakistan's warmth and hospitality was sedition, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi too should face the same charges as he made similar comment soon after his surprise touchdown in Lahore to greet Pakistan Prime Minister Nawab Sharif on his birthday. She also directly said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's comment on Pakistan was not factual and it was silly and stupid. "This is the state of affairs in this country today. Sedition is being slapped against anyone and anybody who is entitled to an opinion which should not be the case." She accused the BJP of trying to curb freedom of expression. "I think that as an individual I should be allowed to air or express my thoughts, views and opinions. I think the BJP government is trying to curb that." In New Delhi, the Congress said if wanting better ties with Pakistan was sedition then the first case should be lodged against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The entire country wants a better relationship between India and Pakistan. Certain elements in the BJP and the RSS are unnecessarily trying to gain cheap publicity. If wanting better relations with Pakistan is sedition, then the first case should be lodged against the Prime Minister who made an impromptu stopover for festivities with the Pakistan premier," the party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in the national Capital. He said that the second case should be filed against BJP veteran L K Advani for praising Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Such cases should also be filed against all former Prime Ministers, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for advocating peace between India and Pakistan, he said. Surjewala advised BJP and its leaders to refrain from playing petty politics and look at more serious issues facing the country.