Deepika patriotic when endorsing Modi govt's scheme, traitor after visiting JNU: Kanhaiya

Taking a dig at the ruling BJP, CPI leader and former JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday said actress Deepika Padukone was patriotic when she was an ambassador for a Modi government initiative, but turned anti-national after visiting the university.

Addressing a crowd outside the premises of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry here, he also said there was no "tukde tukde" government in the country before 2014.

"Tukde tukde" gang is a term often used by BJP leaders to refer to alleged sympathisers of separatists.

"A Hindi cinema actress came to the university but did not raise slogans, did not take Modiji's name, did not take mota bhai's name. She just came and met the injured students. But calls were given to boycott her film.... Deepika Padukone was patriotic when she participated in a campaign for Modiji and became a traitor after coming to JNU," he said.

After Padukone's visit to the campus, JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar was quoted as .