As former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Umar Khalid was arrested on Sunday in connection with the Delhi’s Northeast riots, the social media was seen divided in their views, with some of the twitter users tweeting that why Delhi Police hasn’t taken any action against Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Komal Sharma.
As news of Khalid’s arrest broke, people began to tweet with the hashtag #StandWithUmarKhalid on social media.
Actor Prakash Raj tweeted, 'shameful … if we didn't raise our voice against this witch hunt, we should be ashamed of ourselves ….' Prakash Raj also used the #StandWithUmarKhalid #FreeUmarKhalid #justasking hashtag.
While reacting to the arrest, Kapil Mishra, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in a video message which was doing rounds on social media, congratulated the Delhi Police on the arrest of Khalid.
He can be heard saying that the violence that took place in Delhi in February 2020 was similar to the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai. “I have full faith that criminals like Umar Khalid and Tahir Hussain will be hanged, imprisoned for life, for killing people. The citizens of Delhi await justice,” he said in the video.
“Shocked that an anti-terror law UAPA has been used to arrest a young, thinking, idealist like @UmarKhalidJNU who has always opposed violence and communalism in any form. He is undoubtedly among the leaders that India deserves. @DelhiPolice can't detain India's future for long,” Yogendra Yadav, social activist tweeted.
Using the hashtag “Stand With Umar Khalid”, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted, “PM says he welcomes criticism, but forgets to mention the cost of criticism to be paid by those who who speak out.”