Looking at whitewashing as an art, one would find the left-liberal cabal as the best artists around. Following on similar lines, a fresh attempt is being made, with a concealer brush dipped in calcimine, to whitewash the grave offences of former JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) student Umar Khalid, who is imprisoned on charges of instigating riots.
In a mid-day opinion piece, author Ajaz Ashraf has attempted to downplay the culpability of Umar Khalid under the guise of his girlfriend’s sorrow. Stating the grief, that Banojyotsana Lahiri, the girlfriend of Umar Khalid said she is going through, Ajaz has tried to portray Umar as a mistaken pickpocketer who is missing the normal life inside the jail.
Ajaz Ashraf has based his article on his conversation with Banojyotsana where she says that she misses Umar and that she “cannot survive without being strong.” Ajaz has written about Umar’s love for meat and how he misses his fondness for meat in Tihar because the authorities there only serve vegetarian meals. He also claimed that Banojyotsana feels guilty when she eats mutton or chicken because her lover cannot.
Writing more on his obsession with meat, Ajaz has mentioned that in late August 2020, when he was summoned for interrogation, Umar was so sure he would be arrested that he decided to order “chicken pasta with white sauce” as his last meal in freedom.
More is said about how they converse on the phone during the day and how she buys her a fresh set of books whenever she sees him in Tihar. Throughout the sob tale, Ajaz has ignored all of the severe accusations and charges levelled against Umar and focused on the couple’s struggle to celebrate their romance.
One can imagine how important it would be that rioting accused is unable to consume meat while on trial and have a romance with his girlfriend.
This is not unique since it is the tactic used by leftists and Islamists to whitewash the dirty deeds of severe crime offenders. The same thing happened to Burhan Wani, who was killed by Indian security personnel in 2016 on terrorism charges. He was hailed as a hero and a martyr by politicians and citizens across the length and the breadth of this nation.
Wani was lauded as the son of a headmaster, a liberation warrior, a mass leader, and whatnot. Similarly, in an article by The Quint, terrorist Osama Bin Laden was portrayed as magnanimous.
The objective here is not to equate Umar Khalid to Burhan Wani or Osama Bin Laden, but to question why a narrative is being pushed to make the offender’s conduct appear minor. If Burhan Wani and Osama Bin Laden were terrorists then they were terrorists only. There can be no alternative to their image because they have committed a crime and their identity is of a criminal.
Umar Khalid is in the same boat. If he has been charged with rioting and is on trial for it, bringing his girlfriend’s version of his love affair with her will not lessen the severity of the offence.
One thing to note is that this exercise in whitewashing is exceedingly exclusive. The cabal strongly opposes the presentation of any story that is not in accordance with the liberal and Islamist agendas. The same kind of preferential treatment was not extended to Surinder, Nitin and Shiva—whose predicament, in all likelihood, is not known to a majority of the people. More than 2 years after the Delhi Riots roiled the national capital, a court on Monday this week acquitted Surinder, Nitin and Shiva, who were accused of attacking one Azim Ansari, stating that there was no conclusive evidence to prove the allegations against them.
This interview with Umar’s girlfriend will be acknowledged and discussed widely, but the stories of injustice meted out to Surinder, Nitin and Shiva and many others were neither told nor, in all probability, the Left will bother to speak about them. Their stories won’t invite any sympathy since they are Hindus and thus, treated as fair game in the Left’s ideological battle against a resurgent Hindutva.
