Right to speech does not mean hurting others: T G Venkatesh

Kurnool: Rajya Sabha Member T G Venkatesh said everyone has freedom to express their feelings and opinion through right to speech but it should not hurt the feelings of others with derogatory remarks.

“If one has a right to comment as they like against anyone, the other person will also retaliate in equally derogatory language,” he said at a press conference here on Tuesday referring to Prof Kancha Ilaiah’s book “Social smaglarlu komatollu”.

Accusing Ilaiah of creating rift among different castes with his writings, Venkatesh said the writer had also compared Muhammadans to terrorists.
“In fact it is not a good thing to provoke the citizens with his statements or writings,” he stated.

He said he may have the right to speak his mind but expressing in a right way would be a healthy practice. Stating that Ilaiah had approached the US Congress and complained that he had life threat, the MP asked who was going to kill him and why one would want to kill him. US itself is not able to control its own people where gun culture is ruling the roost he said.

Venkatesh said he stands by his statement that “by making reforms in the Constitution, Ilaiah be hanged”. “If it is wrong, then I will withdraw his statements. Likewise, Ilaiah too should withdraw his book or remove the parts wherein he has stated Vysyas were social smugglers,” he said.