Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday questioned the delay in the trial of jailed student Umar Khalid and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to proceed with the case.
According to a PTI report, Kharge also criticised the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for opposing the screening of a documentary on Khalid and warned that its “goondaism” would not be tolerated.
“Who is telling Mr Umar Khalid is anti-national? Has the court said that? The BJP is saying he is anti-national. Tomorrow, the BJP will tell you that you are anti-national. Do we have to believe that?” Kharge told reporters, according to PTI.
He was responding to Karnataka Congress president B K Hariprasad's statement describing Khalid as a nationalist. Hariprasad has faced criticism from the BJP and right-wing organisations over the remark.
Khalid was arrested in September 2020 in connection with the larger conspiracy case relating to the February 2020 Delhi riots and booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), among other provisions.
Questioning why the trial had not begun, Kharge said, “Why are they (BJP government) not bringing up the trial? It's been so many years that he's been in jail; there are apparently some charge sheets against him. Why is the trial not going on? Why are they (BJP) so afraid to conduct the trial?”
“Mr Modi and Amit Shah, why are you so afraid of Umar Khalid? Take action,” he said.
Kharge said the court, rather than the BJP, should decide who is a nationalist and who is not.
“Why are you (BJP) deciding who is an anti-national? Have they (BJP) taken up the contract of distributing certificates of national—of who is a national and who is an anti-national?” he asked, the report added.
Kharge also asked the ABVP to focus on issues such as education reforms and the alleged KPSC recruitment scam instead of opposing the screening of the documentary on Khalid.
“Talk about the education reforms that youngsters, the Gen Z, are talking about. Talk about the KPSC scam that your (BJP) leaders are involved in. Why are you behind Umar Khalid? He's in jail. How is he harming you? Convict him. Who's saying no? But why is ABVP indulging in all these things about which documentary to be shown, which documentary not to be shown? This kind of goondaism will not be tolerated,” he said.
The ongoing KPSC recruitment scam involves allegations of cash-for-jobs, question-paper leaks, OMR answer-sheet tampering and other irregularities in the recruitment of veterinary officers.
Meanwhile, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra again criticised Hariprasad for describing Khalid as a nationalist and said the statement had drawn considerable criticism.
“We are seeing how a person can behave when power goes to his head, particularly in Karnataka. Earlier, when slogans of 'Pakistan Zindabad' were raised inside Vidhana Soudha, it was these Congress people who worked to protect those involved,” Vijayendra alleged.
He alleged that Hariprasad's statement amounted to “an act of treason” and created a sense of insecurity in the state.
“If Hariprasad, who holds a responsible position, indulges in such an act of treason and speaks irresponsibly, we have to say that the sins of this Congress party have piled up. They have no accountability and speak under the intoxication of power,” Vijayendra said.
Vijayendra also claimed that Chief Minister D K Shivakumar was distancing himself from Hariprasad by keeping him away from an event marking 100 days of the government.
“If Hariprasad was not even allowed onto the stage of a programme to celebrate the Shivakumar government's 100 days in office, it shows that the Congress government is keeping him at a distance. The CM himself is doing it,” he said.
The BJP state chief also backed the ABVP's opposition to the proposed screening of the documentary on Khalid and alleged that the Congress was “insulting Hindus” through its politics of minority appeasement.
Separately, Bajrang Dal activist Tejas Gowda on Wednesday lodged a complaint at Vidhana Soudha police station against Hariprasad for allegedly making “highly objectionable and inflammatory public statements” about a person incarcerated under the UAPA.
The complaint alleged that Hariprasad's remarks undermined the judicial process and public peace.
(With inputs from PTI)