Despite being attacked by right-wing extremists, team Anna member Prashant Bhushan refuses to take back his statement on Kashmir
A day after being attacked by right-wing extremist youths for supporting a plebiscite in Kashmir, team Anna member and lawyer Prashant Bhushan Thursday said his views remain unchanged. He, however, clarified these were his views and not of Team Anna.
In an interview to television news channel CNN IBN, Bhushan said it was "absurd" to call these views anti-national or seditious. He also called the incident a result of an increasing “fascist mindset".
"I don’t have any regrets, those are my views. I realise that those views are the minority views in the country today," Bhushan said. "Merely because some people incite public disorder by saying that 'No, no these views are seditious and therefore I will go and attack and break public property etc, cannot make those views seditious," he said. "That only means that these people are acting illegally and they need to be controlled," he said.
Bhushan also said that the views expressed by him were similar to those expressed by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. "Our prime minister solemnly went and assured the United Nations that there should be a plebiscite and he would have a plebiscite in Kashmir. How can you say that these views are seditious or anti-national,” he asked.
Bhushan, however, made it clear that these were his views and did not reflect the views of team Anna. Bhushan was bashed up by some youths at his Supreme Court chamber Wednesday. He blamed the assault, captured by a TV crew, on the rightwing Sri Ram Sene even as one of the attackers was held. Bhushan reportedly supported a plebiscite for Kashmir and said that if the result comes in favour of separation, it should be honoured.
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