"Offspring of Sharjeel Imam were born at JNU": CM Fadnavis condemns sloganeering against PM, Home Minister

Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], January 7 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday strongly condemned sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), saying that "the offspring of Sharjeel Imam were born at JNU". He asserted that such "wicked intentions that speak the language of breaking the country" would be crushed.
Speaking to reporters, CM Fadnavis said, "The offspring of Sharjeel Imam were born at JNU. We will crush such wicked intentions, which stand with the country's traitors, with those who speak the language of breaking the country."
His remarks came after a group of JNU students, on Monday, raised slogans against Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on campus, following the Supreme Court's denial of bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in the 2020 Delhi riots conspiracy case.
During the same interaction, Fadnavis also responded to a statement by Union Minister C R Patil suggesting that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj belonged to the Patidar community. Distancing himself from any such claim, the Maharashtra Chief Minister said he was unaware of Patil's exact remarks but made it clear that Shivaji Maharaj transcended caste and community identities.
"I don't know what CR Patil said. But Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj did not belong to any one community. Great men do not belong to any particular community; they have no caste. These great men belong to the entire country. Today I am able to say my name is Devendra Fadnavis because Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was here. It is not right to divide great men in this way," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan criticised the continued incarceration of activist Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. Speaking in Mumbai, Chavan described the denial of bail to the two as "quite a controversial decision".
"The government has decided not to grant them bail. Incarcerating them for a long time without trial is contrary to what the Supreme Court has been saying," Chavan said to ANI.
Chavan argued that they should be tried in a court of law and allowed to defend themselves. "My point is that they should be tried in the court of law. The entire world is looking at India and the state of democracy and freedom of speech in India. I think it doesn't speak well of the way the Indian state treats the protestors. They should be allowed to defend themselves in the court of law, but they are being held without trial," he added.

On Monday, the Supreme Court denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in a case about an alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 north-east Delhi riots. However, the SC granted bail to Gulfisha Fatima, Meeran Haider, Shifa Ur Rehman, and Mohd. Saleem Khan and Shadab Ahmad. (ANI)