Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeEditorialUmar Khalid: Accused or Victim of Conspiracy?

Umar Khalid: Accused or Victim of Conspiracy?

- Advertisement -

I don’t know whether it is right or wrong, but I refuse to call the JNU’s students guilty of anything which they have not done, until judiciary gives its verdict. All five students came back and asked Delhi Police chief to arrest them, but surprisingly BS Bassi said them to surrender and to prove their innocence they join the probe. According to law Mr. Bassi, the burden of proving guilty or innocence lies with you (police) either prove JNU students are guilty or apologise to the nation, be fair. If they say they are innocent then they should present evidence of their innocence, whereas Bassi has no evidences to prove them wrong. Here, we can conclude that spineless Delhi police is acting on the instructions of their masters. Moreover, Bassi is retiring from the services this month end and his future depends on BJP’s steps. He will not leave any stone unturned to encash this opportunity.

The students – Umar Khalid, Anirban, Ashutosh, Rama Naga and Ananth Prakash – have been accused of organising an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on February 9 to mark the anniversary of the execution of terrorist Afzal Guru, during which anti-India slogans were raised. However it is yet not clear that who raised slogans. Blame game arises with campus politics. Media trials began without any proof. There were social media trial too and finally two days after the incident, Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU students’ union president, was arrested on sedition charges, for allegedly making anti-national statements. He is in Delhi’s Tihar jail till March 02.

As these five surfaced on the campus late on Sunday night, they were joined by scores of students and teachers in a dramatic all-night sit-in as the police waited outside the gates.

Umar Khalid, who is accused of being the chief organizer of the Afzal Guru event, rubbished the charges against him as he addressed the gathering.

“For the first time in seven years, in the last 10 days, I was made to feel like a Muslim. I was reduced to my identity and it is shameful… These people are telling us about patriotism… They may have majority but they are scared of us… they are scared of our struggle, they are afraid of us because we think…,” Umar Khalid said to cheers from supporters.

JNU students and faculty members urged Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar to back the accused students. The students were in hiding because they feared mob-lynching and have returned when (they) believed that some normalcy has returned. They want the Vice Chancellor to take a stand like Jadavpur University that police will not come on campus. The arrest of 28-year-old Kanhaiya Kumar and the violence by a group of lawyers at two court hearings last week have provoked a nationwide debate. Protest marches have been held in the student’s support as well as by those who allege ‘Anti-national activities’ at JNU. Country has become restless because of this. Everywhere hate is spreading against each other.

Sometimes, I am forced to believe that we are not in a civilized world. In India, violent protests are becoming normal. People are looking out for excuses for riots; particularly political parties. They are keeping such goons who are specialized in rabble rousing. What is the point of having a Constitution, which is disobeyed by its own citizen? Yes, there is Freedom of Speech given to us by our Constitution, but within a permissible limit. JNU students are consistently providing voice to the voice less marginalized sections, such as tribals, Dalits, rural, women and minorities. These are the sections that are being crushed under the juggernaut of ‘Development’. JNU students are posing crucial questions? Umar rightly said that the government is scared of them because they can think. They can argue and they can protest also. They refused to be blind followers or they don’t want to give up. They want to fight against all odds not for themselves but for the society at large. That could be the main reason for the Right wingers to attack them.

Khalid’s speech gave reasoning; it gave a substantial evidence that left ideology is not died. Before he began his speech, Khalid was cheered with slogans of “We salute you, comrade,” from the gathering, to which he responded by cheekily remarking that his name might be Umar Khalid but he is “not a terrorist.”

Umar Khalid is a student of PhD in JNU’s Centre for Historical Studies. It was him who conceived the idea of a cultural evening to commemorate Afzal Guru’s death anniversary. The 28-year-old resigned from the post of Democratic Student’s Union (DSU) leader in November 2015.  He did his M.A. in history and M.Phil from JNU and has been doing field work in Jharkhand. He is one of the applicants who sought permission for organising the event on JNU campus.

He is the son of Syed Qasim Ilyas, who was once the leader of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) before the organisation turned radical, and was banned in 2001. Umar is communist and atheist – not an Islamist – according to his friends at JNU.

Delhi Police had been looking for Umar since February 11 after he was charged with sedition. Police had issued a lookout notice for Khalid, as well as four other students – Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga, Anirban Bhattacharya, now when they informed police that they are returned, no one could dare to go inside the campus and arrest them, but rather asking them to surrender. Let’s see, where this tug of war is going to end and how the student’s movements take shape.

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -
Vaidehi Taman
Vaidehi Tamanhttps://authorvaidehi.com
Vaidehi Taman an Accredited Journalist from Maharashtra is bestowed with three Honourary Doctorate in Journalism. Vaidehi has been an active journalist for the past 21 years, and is also the founding editor of an English daily tabloid – Afternoon Voice, a Marathi web portal – Mumbai Manoos, and The Democracy digital video news portal is her brain child. Vaidehi has three books in her name, "Sikhism vs Sickism", "Life Beyond Complications" and "Vedanti". She is an EC Council Certified Ethical Hacker, OSCP offensive securities, Certified Security Analyst and Licensed Penetration Tester that caters to her freelance jobs.
- Advertisement -

Latest

Must Read

- Advertisement -

Related News