Govt misusing sedition law, scrap it – Times Boss Vineet Jain tweets on JNU controversy

Vineet Jain steps into raging political controversy – Twitter pic

February 26, 2016, NewsCrunch

Vineet  Jain, the boss of India’s largest media empire, The Times Group, tweeted on Friday saying the government was misusing sedition law.

He noted that the sedition law had been used by the British to jail Gandhi and demanded that it should be repealed.

The Modi government has invoked sedition law against JNU students, who have been charged with shouting anti-national slogans.

In a series of tweets, Vineet  Jain noted that asking for free Kashmir state was not sedition. He, however, added that incitement to violence was punishable but did not deserve life sentence.

Though Vineet Jain tweets frequently, it is perhaps the first time he has stepped into a raging political controversy.

The Times owners are known their lack of interest in politics and do not usually dictate a party line for their media outlets to take.

His stand on sedition is similar to the approach of the flagship daily of the group, The Times of India. But Times Now, a news channel from the same group,  has taken a diametrically opposite stand  on the controversy.