Amid the uproar over the sedition charge which the Congress government in Karnataka has slapped on Amnesty International India, Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi has communicated to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah that a sedition case is not made out.
The Indian Expressreported today that Gandhi had conveyed this to senior Congress Party leader Digvijaya Singh, who spoke to Siddaramaiah, who assured him that "no arrests would be made pending investigation."
Siddaramaiah had earlier said, "The government won't remain quiet on such issues, we will take action."
Singh communicated to the The Indian Express that he had got a "message" from Gandhi.
Over the past two days, the Congress Party leadership has been accused of hypocrisy and double standards for not speaking out against the sedition charge slapped on Amnesty International India in Karnataka, while condemning so vociferously similar action taken by the Modi government against students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, earlier this year.
In fact, Gandhi went to the JNU campus to meet with those students who were charged with sedition, for which he was accused by the BJP for standing with traitors who had called for the destruction of India.
After the Karnataka police registered a first information report based on a complaint by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the BJP, the Congress Party initially took a wait and watch approach instead of repeating what it had said during the JNU row: raising slogans does not amount to sedition.
Attempting to distinguish the two cases, Senior Congress Party leader Jairam Ramesh made a distinction between university students and activists. Now that Gandhi has communicated his point of view, others within the party are likely to feel more comfortable speaking out against the Karnataka government's decision.
Two Congress Party leaders, Abhishek Singhvi and M Veerappa Moily, have said that a sedition case is not made out.
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