Communist Party of India (CPI) member and student leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Wednesday criticised the government, referring to the attack on Umar Khalid, saying that the environment of hatred remains in our society. Earlier on August 13, Umar Khalid was shot outside the constitution club in New Delhi and escaped death by an inch of his skin.
Speaking at a press conference at Mumbai's Press Club, Kumar accused Narendra Modi’s government of Polarisation saying that the society is being divided on the basis of religion and caste and those who question the establishment regarding this are “criminalised” and labelled as “anti-nationals”, “anti-army”, “anti-Hindu.”
“Government is not elected to serve one religion,” the student leader said, adding that “every citizen has the right to question anything unconstitutional. So, why should we question the government?”
Talking about journalistic freedom being hampered, Kumar asserted, “Journalists who are working and questioning the establishment are losing their jobs and their lives.” Remembering Gauri Lankesh, the student leader said that she was like a mother to him and she was murdered because she wrote against those who hamper the social harmony of our society.
“Management has taken over the jobs of the journalists,” claimed Kumar, implying that it limits the journalists from reporting the facts. Journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy and “democracy weakens if journalists are stopped from doing their jobs,” Kanhaiya asserted.
Talking about the right-wing trolls on social media, Kumar said that “the ultimate motive of these hate mongers is to eliminate the legitimacy of a person who is questioning the government catering to problems of the commoners.”
Kanhaiya further added that “trolling on social media and the environment of fear in the society is a set up created before the elections so that no one talks about the real problems and issues.”
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