Arrested Sunday late night on the charges of being one of the prime co-conspirators of the large-scale anti-Hindu riots that erupted in Delhi in February this year, former JNU student and ‘activist’, Umar Khalid has been sent to 10 days of police custody by the Karkardooma court. Khalid was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after almost 11 hours of interrogation.
The news of the arrest of the controversial ‘activist’ created a flurry amidst the assortment of ‘liberals’ who took to Twitter, to rant and rave about the arrest of Umar Khalid. Likewise, the Congress loyalists too have been shaken by the news of the arrest of the former JNU student, who also took to the microblogging site to express their vexations.
For liberal intellectuals, it is very tempting to blame Modi for anything and everything happening under the deep blue sky. Going by the penchant, Congress senior leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor plunked the blame of the arrest of the ‘JNU scholar’ on the Modi government. Responding to a Tweet by Khalid’s father Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas on the arrest of his son, Tharoor wrote: “PM says he welcomes criticism, but forgets to mention the cost of criticism to be paid by those who speak out. In today’s India, payback is only reserved to our own citizens, never against countries who actually question and challenge our sovereignty. #StandWithUmarKhalid.”
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh also Tweeted in support of the JNU student. This despite the fact that Khalid was arrested for his alleged role in collaborating the violence that swept across the northeast Delhi in February. It appalling that the senior Congress leader was giving credence to Harsh Mander, the ‘activist’, who himself has been named in the charge-sheet filed by the Delhi police explaining incidents leading to the North-east Delhi riots.
The charge sheet mentioned that on 16th December 2019, Harsh Mander visited the protest site and asked protesters not to believe or have faith in the Supreme Court of India. He incited the protestors by telling them that the only way to get justice is to fight the battle on the roads.
Likewise, for the national spokesperson of Congress Salman Anees Soz, Umar Khalid, who’s accused of being involved in Delhi riots, was not the problem. The real problem for this shortsighted Congress loyalist, prevailed in the government and the judicial system of India.
He also claimed that allegations of instigating riots is ‘dissent’.
The Congress IT cell member Srivatsa mourned Khalid’s arrest, alluding that he has been arrested because of his Muslim “name”, while the ‘real’ culprits are roaming freely. However, difficult it might be for these leftists to digest, but the fact is that while the FIR filed by Delhi police names Umar Khalid for hatching the conspiracy that led to the ghastly riots, there have been no charges against any of the names which Srivatsa otherwise mentions in his Tweet.
Congress IT cell worker Gaurav Pandhi, who too was profoundly agonised over the former JNU student’s arrest, elucidated how Khalid was actually a victim who was being portrayed as perpetrator.
Moreover, Congress leader Salman Khurshid also opined that invoking UAPA in cases of protests will have a “chilling effect” on democratic rights. Rajya Sabha MP and Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi and Former Law Minister and Congress bigwig Kapil Sibal also lamented the arrest of Umar Khalid alluding that the government was targeting the ‘victims’.
“The manner in which the police seems to be investigating the Delhi riots establishes two things — the investigation process has been sullied and is proceeding in tandem with political considerations of the union government to brush under the carpet the complicity of those who started the riots and targeted people, and blame those who were the victims,” Indian Express quoted Kapil Sibal as saying.
These Congress leaders should probably be reminded that one of the prime accused in the Delhi riots case, former AAP councillor, Tahir Hussain, has named Umar Khalid as the one who introduced him to Khalid Saifi for planning the riots in the city.
Earlier, an FIR was registered against Umar Khalid which said that the Delhi Riots were a preplanned conspiracy that was hatched by the former JNU student and his associates. As part of the conspiracy, Umar Khalid is accused of giving provocative speeches at two different locations and appealing to people to take to streets during the visit of US President Donald Trump so that the propaganda that minorities are oppressed in India can be internationalized.
