The nationalism debate is back. With Amnesty International India facing sedition charges over ‘anti-national’ slogans allegedly raised at an event organised to highlight human rights violations in Kashmir, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah weighed in on the issue at an event in Mangaluru. After flagging off the nationwide ‘Tiranga Yatra’, Shah spoke at Mangalore University and said that India’s youth should not be inspired by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that speak against the country, a not-so-subtle reference to Amnesty.

Shah added that while people should be able to exercise their right to freedom of speech to criticise the actions of an individual or a party, nobody can use it to speak against the nation. According to Shah, the very Constitution which grants citizens this right has nationalism at its core. “If there is no nationalism, there will be no Constitution from which this right can be derived,” Shah said. He also called upon the people to “isolate” those who attempt to speak against the nation.

Earlier, Shah’s impending visit to the university had faced resistance from certain sections of the student community. The All College Students’ Association of the university had accused the administration of granting permission to a political programme. As a result, Dakshina Kannada Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel of BJP had to clarify that the programme would be non-political and no party symbols would be used during the event.