Prasad takes on Delhi govt on health scheme, sedition issue

New Delhi, Dec 30 () Taking the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) head-on over sedition issue, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday asked why action based on evidence should not be taken against anyone found indulging in anti-India activities under the garb of protests.

"If some people are genuinely found indulging in sedition and if there are legal evidence available to prove, why should sanction not be imposed," he said in a veiled reference to the AAP-led Delhi government.

The Delhi government had refused to sanction prosecution of students' leader Kanhaiya Kumar and research scholars Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya in connection with the February 2016 JNU sedition case.

Prasad was speaking at an event here to launch a data repository to help track missing or stolen mobile phones in the national capital.

He added, "Such politics...does not go a long way."

Prasad also went on to criticise the AAP for not allowing the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat to be implemented in Delhi.

"Can we de-link development from politics. Democracy means debate and discussions... (But) why have the benefits of Ayushman Bharat not been given to poor people in Delhi. What was the problem in that," he said.

"The scheme for housing for poor...what is the problem in supporting that," Prasad said. MBI ANZ HRS