‘Umar Khalid is a nationalist’: Karnataka Congress chief amid documentary row

Karnataka Congress president B K Hariprasad called Umar Khalid a “nationalist” on Tuesday amid a controversy over screening at Bengaluru’s National Law School of India University (NLSIU) a documentary about the former JNU student leader's pre-trial incarceration in the Delhi riots case.

While NLSIU postponed a screening of the documentary about Khalid, Hariprasad’s comment came in response to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s demand to cancel the screening and order an inquiry against the university administration.

"Umar Khalid is a nationalist, and ABVP has no right to speak about him because they adore Nathuram Godse, an anti-national and the first terrorist of the country. They don't have any rights or ethics to speak about Umar Khalid," the Congress leader said, criticising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) students’ wing.

ABVP Bengaluru city secretary Abhinandan Mirji asked how the Congress could label as nationalist “an individual who openly supported and commemorated a convicted terrorist named Afzal Guru”. "Is Supporting Parliament Attack Terrorists 'Nationalism'?

If Umar Khalid is a "nationalist" in BK Hariprasad's eyes, does the Congress party endorse those who organised events honoring and glorifying Afzal Guru? Do You Stand With the slogan 'Bharat Tere Tukde Honge'? Does Congress support the violent anti-India slogans raised in JNU and the deliberate incitement that led to bloodshed during the 2020 Delhi riots?

Giving a patriot certificate to figures facing serious UAPA terror charges reveals Congress's complete compromise on national security. Instead of addressing why a premier law university like NLSIU was being leveraged to glorify divisive figures, Congress leaders resort to cheap political rhetoric.

Shifting goalposts will not sanitize Umar Khalid's actions," Mirji wrote on social media. On Monday, the ABVP wrote to Union ministers Amit Shah, Pralhad Joshi, and Arjun Ram Meghwal seeking the cancellation of the screening and an inquiry.

Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP shared on X a video clip of Khalid to accuse the Congress of glorifying anti-India rhetoric as part of its vote-bank politics. The “solidarity screening” of Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present was planned to mark Political Prisoners’ Day, which is observed on September 13.

NLSIU postponed the screening of the documentary without citing any reason. But sources said the decision followed a request from the police, who said many of their personnel would be busy with Ganesha festival duty and not be able to manage the law and order situation in the wake of the opposition to the screening.

Directed by Lalit Vachani, the 2024 documentary explores Khalid's arrest and prolonged incarceration. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on September 13, 2020, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for his alleged involvement in the "conspiracy" behind the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.

After the documentary screening was announced, the ABVP demanded it be cancelled. "ABVP emphasises that academic campuses must remain dedicated to national integrity and learning, rather than serving as platforms for political propaganda or glorifying civil unrest.

Despite submitting a formal complaint via email to the NLSIU administration demanding to stop the event, ABVP has received no response so far. ABVP Bengaluru reiterates its demand that the administration immediately cancel all permissions for the event to preserve the institutional integrity," it said in a statement on September 13.