A day after Shaheen Bagh mastermind Sharjeel Imam was booked under the UAPA for his seditious statement where he asked Northeast India to be cut off, radical Islamists have now come out in his support. Newslaundry campus columnist Sharjeel Usmani took to social media to stand by leftist propaganda website The Wire columnist Sharjeel Imam for his comments where he urged Indian Muslims to cut off Northeast from India.
Taking to Facebook, Usmani questioned how is ‘chakkajam’ (roadblock) seditious. He conveniently misses out on mentioning how Sharjeel Imam wanted to cut out Northeast India. Sharjeel Usmani decided to paint cutting off the chicken neck, or the Siliguri corridor, which connects the seven northeastern states to rest of India, as mere chakkajam when it has been known to be an enemy project to do so since decades.
The Siliguri Corridor (or the Chicken’s Neck) was created in 1947 after the partition of Bengal and has been an important and sensitive territory in India.
Because of the strategic location, the area is heavily patrolled by Indian Army, Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force and the West Bengal Police.
He is also supported by one Iman Abdullah endorses Imam’s views as he is on the path of ‘Haqq’. Referring to Imam as ‘independent Muslim thinker’ he calls those who do not support him as ‘Hindutva Nazis’.
Sharjeel Usmani further took to Facebook to say that he stands by Sharjeel Imam. “If you throw Sharjeel Imam under the bus to gain a little more legitimacy of these protests in the eyes of the state, I’ll jump with him,” he said.
He even took to Twitter to send out a warning of sort to the ‘Sarkari Musalmans’, the Muslims who are not really radical and don’t toe their line.
Suno Sarkari Musalmans!
Ye uchal uchal kar apni deshbhakti sabit karne ki hod mein aap pahle bhi bahut zindagiya kharab kar chuke hain. Is dafa pahle aap sab se hisab hoga. Apni hadd aap bhi jaan lein.
— Sharjeel Usmani (@SharjeelUsmani) January 25, 2020
Afreen Fatima, JNU student and JNUSU Councillor, too, took to Facebook to stand by Imam. Referring to him as her ‘leader’, Fatima said that media trials, false cases and hate campaigns will not silence ‘our brother’.
She, too, took to Twitter to refer to crackdown against Sharjeel Imam for his problematic views as ‘Islamophobia’ by Indian government.
Unapologetic Muslim with thousands of Ideas is the fear of Indian Government. Sharjeel Imam’s targeting is sheer Islamophobia by the Government of India.#ISupportSharjeelimam
— Afreen Fatima (@AfreenFatima136) January 25, 2020
Some even referred to the crackdown on Imam as ‘witchhunt’ as he is leading against the ‘fascist government’.
‘Political activist’ Ali Sohrab, who used to earlier refer to himself as a journalist and was arrested for his hateful comments on slain Hindu leader Kamlesh Tiwari, also expressed his solidarity.
Planner and Motivator of Shaheen Bhagh Protest.#ISupportSharjeelImam pic.twitter.com/M3TiOEPoaP
— काकावाणी 2.0 (@007AliSohrab) January 25, 2020
Many took to Twitter to trend ‘ISupportSharjeelImam‘ hashtag. Many even justified his seditious statement by trying to give ‘context’ to his hateful statements.
Have some sense @himantabiswa.
Don’t you know in which Context he was saying about cut off?#ISupportSharjeelimam https://t.co/Srl6MtssXC— Moinuddin Ibn Nasrullah معین الدین ابن نصر اللہ (@PeaceMoin) January 25, 2020
Jamia ‘Sheroes’ have also chimed in and supported Sharjeel Imam.
The overwhelming support that is coming for Sharjeel Imam just goes out to show how Ummah is more important than the constitution they are claiming to be protecting. However, the ‘fight to protect the constitution’ is nothing but a facade. The real fight is for the anger over November 2019 Supreme Court verdict where the apex court ruled in favour of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple at Ayodhya.
Sharjeel Imam has been at the forefront of the anti-CAA protests from the very beginning. In a video that had gone viral on social media by the 17th of December, he could be seen inciting Muslims to do ‘Chakkajam’ in Delhi and wherever they have sufficient numbers. He called for Muslims to bring entire cities to a halt. “There are over 30% urban Muslims in UP. Do you have no shame at all? Why cannot you do Chakkajam in UP? The area in Bihar where I am from, the rural Muslim population is 6% while the urban Muslim population is 24%. Indian Muslims mostly live in cities. So it is upon you. You can bring your cities to a halt. If anyone asks you not to, disown them” he was heard saying in the viral video.
On Saturday, another video had gone viral on social media where he had asked Muslims of the country to break India by cutting of North-east from the rest of the country. “Our main aim is to permanently cut Assam and North-east India from rest of India,” he could be heard saying in the video.
