New Delhi [India], January 6 : BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala slammed the reported sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Tuesday.
Condemning the slogans, he called Congress and Left parties an "anti-India urban naxal gang," alleging they prioritise individuals like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam and their vote-bank politics over national security.
"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," Poonawala told ANI.
Besides Poonawala, Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood also criticised the sloganeering against PM Modi and Amit Shah at JNU on Monday, calling the incident "unfortunate" and "condemnable."
"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," Sood told reporters.
These remarks came after a group of JNU students on Monday raised slogans against Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on campus, following the Supreme Court's denial of bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.
Reacting to these developments, ABVP's JNU unit Vice President Manish Choudhary claimed that slogans were raised on campus, stating that such sloganeering has become frequent.
"Yesterday, there were slogans raised in JNU. Such sloganeering at JNU is common now. ABVP-RSS have over crores of workers. Are they talking about digging the crores of garves of crores of workers? We welcome the order of the Supreme Court rejecting the bail pleas of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam," he told ANI.
Echoing similar concerns, Uttar Pradesh Minister Dayashankar Singh stated that while students study at JNU using public funds, some display what he described as a "foreign mindset," adding that the country should remain vigilant toward such tendencies.
"In JNU, they study with India's money and hold a foreign mindset; the government should remain cautious of such people," Singh told ANI.
On Monday, the Supreme Court denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in a case alleging a larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots.