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Bengaluru:Actor-turned-politician and former Congress MP Ramya on Tuesday refused to apologise for praising the people of Pakistan saying her statements did not amount to sedition as was argued by right-wing activists.
"These days being called anti-national is a compliment. But, I would like to clarify that I am not an anti-national," Ramya told CNN-News18 after an RSS-affiliated organisation demanded that she be booked under sedition charges.
Ramya had countered Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement that going to Pakistan is worse than going to hell. She said that when she went to Pakistan as part of a parliamentary delegation they were treated well.
"I found them warm and good-natured. They are just like us," she said.
Slamming the BJP and affiliated organisations for criticising he, she said: "I feel very sorry for them. Many people are ignorant. It is very easy to brainwash them. The media has a very crucial role. They should educate the masses. There is no rationale behind what they are doing."
Reacting to the demand of right-wing activists that the Karnataka Film Chambers should ban her, Ramya said: "Why are they involving film industry in this? This is nothing to do with what I had said".
Her lawyer Pramod Nair said the sedition case against her was untenable and that the law itself was a "remnant of our colonial past."
State Congress working president Dinesh Gundurao said the party would stand by Ramya.
"Nothing wrong in what she has said. I condemn BJP's stand on this. The BJP did not even take part in the freedom movement and today they are the biggest nationalists? If that's the case, the Prime Minister Modi should be booked under sedition. He went to Pakistan and attended a birthday dinner. Immediately Pathankot was attacked," he said.
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