Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam’s alleged remarks about cutting off Assam from the rest of India were “more dangerous” than former JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar’s slogans.
Imam, a PhD scholar, is under fire for alleged remarks he made at Aligarh Muslim University on January 16. In a clip on social media, Imam was purportedly heard telling protestors to “cut off Assam from India” by occupying the “Muslim-dominated Chicken’s Neck”. The comment was widely perceived as a secessionist one, but Imam claims he had called for peaceful protests to “block roads going to Assam” – “basically a call for chakka jam”. His family has claimed that the video was doctored.
The JNU student was arrested in Bihar earlier in the day on charges of sedition after he reportedly surrendered to Delhi Police. Kumar, now a leader of the Communist Party of India, had also faced sedition charges in 2016.
“Have you seen the video of [the speech of] Sharjeel?” Shah asked party workers at an event in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur. “It is more dangerous than Kanhaiya Kumar’s statement. He is talking about cutting off the Chicken’s Neck to disintegrate Assam from India. Even seven generations would not be able to do that.”
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