KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday shared a poem in support of jailed activist Umar Khalid after the Supreme Court denied him bail in a case linked to the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.Moitra posted the poem on X, titled “You will rise, Umar Khalid”, writing, “You Will Rise, Umar Khalid. You may write me (Umar Khalid) down in history, With your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirt,But still, like dust, I’ll rise…You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me with your eyes,You may kill me with your hatefulness,But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
The Supreme Court on Monday denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in a case involving an alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots. The court, however, granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad.Following the court’s decision, a group of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students reportedly raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on campus.The action drew sharp criticism from political leaders. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said: “The offspring of Sharjeel Imam were born at JNU. We will crush such wicked intentions, which stand with the country’s traitors, with those who speak the language of breaking the country.”BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala also condemned the slogans, calling Congress and Left parties an “anti-India urban naxal gang”, and added, “This shows that they are an anti-India urban naxal gang which always keeps people like Umar and Sharjeel and their vote bank above national security…Be it Congress or Left or their ecosystem in JNU, they always stand with anti-India elements.”Delhi home minister Ashish Sood described the alleged sloganeering at JNU as “unfortunate” and “condemnable”, saying, “This kind of sloganeering after rejection of the bail plea of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam is unfortunate and condemnable. Sharjeel Imam talked about cutting off the Chicken’s Neck corridor to separate Northeast India. Umar Khalid raised slogans of ‘Bharat tere tukde honge’. I consider this treason.“
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