New Delhi: Umar Khalid, whom the Delhi police said was absconding in a sedition case, on Sunday slammed the Modi government for 'intimidation' and television channels Times Now and Zee News for 'spreading lies'.
In a hard hitting speech in front of the cheering Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, Umar Khalid, who surfaced on the campus along with five of his colleagues said, "My name is Umar Khalid.. But, I am not a terrorist"
Umar Khalid also said, "It is in these ten days that he realized for the first time that he is a Muslim".
In a 14-minute speech, Umar Khalid also mocked Zee News and Times Now for 'Media Trial' and "spreading lies" against him which have no evidence and proof.
"I do not have a passport. Even them I visited Pakistan two times and have a link with 'Jaish-e-Mohammad'. These are the lies the tv channels are spreading against me", he said amid applause from the cheering students.
"The media, all this while, presented a lot of things about me. The media trial, this propaganda... I know what my family is going through," he said.
"My father is interrogated .. my sisters are abused with.. All this because we are fighting the downtrodden and oppressed", he said.
He said he has been involved with the campus for the last about seven years. But, never projected himself as a Muslim.
"It is in these ten days I realized that I am a Muslim. This has been done by the media.. by the intimidating government", he said.
Hitting out at the Modi government for what he called as its attempt to suppress voices of dissent, Umar Khalid said "universities without voices of dissent will be like prison house."
"Dont's attempt to convert universities into prisons", he said.
He also refuted the media reports that he made 800 calls to 'Gulf or Kashmir' a few days before the program was organised.
"These tv channels have mastered the art of fabricating lies against innocents and helpless. It is enough now. They will have to answer for every baseless charge they levelled against me", he said.
The five students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash had gone missing from the campus since February 12 after JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested in a sedition case lodged in connection with an event held on the campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where anti-naitonal slogans were allegedly raised.
According to Ashutosh, former president of JNU students union and a PhD scholar at varsity's School of International studies, they "have come back with a view of supporting the enquiry. The massive support we got from students and others from across the globe gave us the strength to return. I, Rama, Anirban and Anant were around but did not come in public due to atmosphere of mob lynching."
He, however, maintained that the four of them were not in touch with Umar Khalid and had spoken to him last on February 9, the day of the event.
Meanwhile, police rushed a team to the campus on receiving information about them even as the students maintained that "they will not surrender but police can come and arrest them".
"We had received some information about their reported presence on campus. A police team was rushed to the varsity to enquire out after we received information that they were spotted on the campus. The team has right now been positioned outside JNU," a senior police official said.
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