Vice President Venkaiah Naidu lashed out at the alleged glorification of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and 1993 Mumbai bombings convict Yakub Memon, asking how anyone could glorify people responsible for the deaths of so many.
Naidu said “dissent is always welcome, but attempts to disintegrate in the name of dissent will not be tolerated.”
The vice president made the statement at the Radha Vinod Raju Memorial Lecture organised by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in New Delhi on 24 January.
You can’t celebrate an Afzal Guru. “Afzal Guru aapka kaam jo adhura hai usko hum poora karenge!” What is this nonsense? I can’t understand. How can you just celebrate someone (like) Yakub Memon who tried to kill innocent people! How can such people be celebrated or glorified?Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President
Naidu Talks Tough on Terror
Naidu also took a tough stance on terror at the speech attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat. Naidu said India wouldn’t cede a single inch of land to Pakistan, despite what he claimed was increased abetment of terror activities by the country.
“Terrorism is their state policy. I want to make it clear to them, not an inch of India’s land will be allowed to be taken. It will never, never happen,” said Venkaiah Naidu.
Naidu added that terrorist organisations can’t function without finances and terror funding is the oxygen on which such activities thrive.
He added that the NIA’s investigation had provided useful breakthroughs and resulted in the disruption of terrorist cells.
The recent investigations by the NIA in tracing and tracking the funding of the separatist groups and leaders have successfully disrupted the supply of funds to the separatist groups. This has led to a significant decrease in the incidents of terrorism as well as decline in the subversive activities being carried out by the separatists.
On external threats faced by the country, Naidu said Pakistan remains the biggest challenge for national security and that cross-border terrorism, through both state and non-state actors, has claimed thousands of innocent lives over the last three decades.
(With inputs from PTI)
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