Umar Khalid and the Hate Republic

Umar Khalid, a PhD scholar of Jawaharlal Nehru University was attacked by a gun-wielding assailant inside the premises of the Constitution Club on 13 August. It should be noted that this incident took place in a high security zone barely 500 metres away from the Parliament House just two days before independence day. Ironically, he had gone to attend an event titled “Khauff Se Azaadi” (freedom from fear), organised by a non-governmental organisation, “United Against Hate.” The police reaction was curious; they wanted to ascertain whether the incident was staged. As reported in Telegraph (2018), Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament, ridiculed Khalid saying that he was playing the victim card (2018). And some Hindutva bigots on social media lamented the fact that he was still alive and swore that it would not be so the next time around.

Khalid could well have been dead but for his friends who managed to throw off the killer’s aim. He would have just been added to the list of martyrs—Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh—who were allegedly gunned down by right-wing assailants. While the Prime Minister delivered his speech from the rampart of the Red Fort, trying to impress people with his characteristic hyperboles and half-truths, he did not express an iota of remorse over the “jungle raj” we have seen over the past four years.