''Attack On Umar Khalid Was An Independence Day Gift," Say Two Men On Viral Video

A video that is widely being circulated on social media has two people claiming to be the ones who shot at Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid.

Umar Khalid was attacked by an unidentified gunman outside Constitution Club of India, Rafi Marg, Delhi on August 13. He escaped the attack, unhurt. The shooter with his accomplices escaped from the crime scene.

There have been several claims by people terming the attack staged or false. Even though police confirmed that the attack was not staged, the narrative circulated on social media was otherwise. In this viral video, the two apparent shooters, tell people why they did, what they did.

“The JNU people are mad dogs”

The video starts with the two men chanting “Inquilab zindabad, Vande Mataram, Bharat Mata ki jai, jo yeh gaddar nahi bolte” (These traitor do not chant Inquilab zindabad, Vande Mataram, Bharat Mata ki jai). They then go on to elaborate that they respect the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court but they have been utterly disappointed that there are no provisions to punish the ‘mad dogs’.

“We request the Indian government to come up with punishments for these ‘mad dogs’,” says one of the men and then goes on to clarify that he is referring to the ‘JNU gang’. “The number of these people are increasing day by day. Our elders in Haryana taught us that if people like them are on the loose then you would have to take matters in your own hand to solve the problem,” they say.

Then they reveal their names, Darvesh Sapur and Naveen Dalal Mandothi and take the responsibility for the attack against Umar Khalid on themselves.

“This attack is a gift from us to you on Independence Day. We urge the police to not bother our other brothers, we will surrender. On 17 August at 12 noon at patriot Kartar Singh Sarabha’s village, at his home, we will give ourselves up,” one of them says. Kartar Singh Sarabha was a Sikh revolutionary who died in 1915 and the village that is his birthplace has been named after him. Sarabha is 328 kms from Delhi.

They go on to say that they do not care if they lose their lives over this attack. They continue, “He (Umar Khalid) had said ‘Bharat tere tukde honge.’ We will not tolerate those who stay in India and try to break India into pieces, those who commemorate the death anniversary of a terrorist by chanting anti-national slogans like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. We seek the help of all our fellow Indians in this fight that we have started. They should not support such anti-nationals,” reports The Quint.

Eyewitness claims faces match

Speaking to The Quint, Banojyotsna Lahiri, one of the eyewitnesses said, “On 13 August, I had described the physical features of the attacker to the police for a sketch. Some of the attacker’s facial features are definitely matching with one of the men in the video.” She further said if the police call for identifying the victim, she would do so.

MM Oberoi, Special CP of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell, which is handling the investigation, told The Quint, “Someone forwarded this video to us. Our team is looking into this matter. Our job is to probe every lead we get during the investigation. As of now, we haven’t reached any conclusion.”

The Logical Indian take

The attack on Umar Khalid has polarised a lot of people, and the media has played a big part in this.

While many are supporting the attempted assassination and several have praised the two attackers on social media, the underlying fact remains that propagandist media is capable of taking people to such a frenzied state that they commit and support criminal acts. Perhaps, what is most worrisome is that the attackers are taking pride in themselves and people seem to be comparing them to freedom fighters.

Also, Read: Umar Khalid Shot At Outside Constitution Club, Escapes Without Injuries