Smriti Irani told to apologise for JNU pamphlet?

As Human Resources Development Minister read out from a pamphlet on Durga by Jawaharlal Nehru University students the previous day, Congress members from both the Houses found a stick to beat the NDA government with on Friday, demanding an apology from the minister for her alleged blasphemous comments. Smriti rejected the Congress calls for an apology, saying she's a worshipper of the Hindu deity Durga and read aloud offensive things about the deity, written in JNU Central University, in Parliament on Thursday merely to prove a point. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress on Friday sought an apology from HRD minister for reading out in the Rajya Sabha "blasphemous" comments about the goddess from a pamphlet allegedly written by some Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students. The minister said she read from the pamphlet, as she was repeatedly being asked to explain what evidence the government had of anti-national acts by some JNU students. Would the opposition see the anti-national activity in JNU at least now? Blasphemy by minister or JNU researcher should be seen as such. The Minister saw it and the opposition fell for it. "I myself am a practising Hindu and a Durga worshipper. The documents I read (from) yesterday are officials documents from the (JNU) university, these are not documents of the government," Smriti clarified. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said it was a "very serious issue" and there were campaigns against many religious figures, but those campaigns cannot be repeated in the House. "The Human Resource Development Minister must apologize for her remark about Goddess Durga," Congress leader Anand Sharma said in the Rajya Sabha. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked the Congress and other opposition parties, saying it had become a pattern for them to seek a short-duration discussion, a couple of calling-attention motions and an apology in every session, while showing no interest in legislative business. Naqvi said the Congress was raising the issue, as its vice-president Rahul Gandhi was criticised for allegedly supporting some JNU students that police claim were involved in anti-national activities. Durga, worshipped all over India as Shakti, needs to be invoked to bring in sense all round.