'Umar Khalid is a nationalist': Cong leader hits out at ABVP amid documentary row

The screening was recently postponed by the organisers, who cited security and administrative reasons.

NEW DELHI: Karnataka Congress president BK Hariprasad on Tuesday hit out at the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) over its demand for the permanent cancellation of a proposed documentary screening on jailed activist Umar Khalid at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU).

Hariprasad called Khalid a nationalist and questioned the student organisation's moral authority to comment on him.Hariprasad said, "Umar Khalid is a nationalist, and ABVP has no right to speak on him because they adore Nathuram Godse—who was an anti-national and the first terrorist of the country. They have no moral right."

The remarks came after the RSS-affiliated student organisation sought the Centre's intervention to permanently cancel the proposed screening of the documentary Prisoner No.

626710 is Present, directed by Lalit Vachani, at NLSIU.The screening was recently postponed by the organisers, who cited security and administrative reasons.In a statement on Monday, ABVP Bengaluru claimed it had sent representations to Union home minister Amit Shah, Union education minister Pralhad Joshi and Union minister of state (independent charge) for law and justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, seeking their intervention.

The organisation also called for a high-level inquiry into the NLSIU administration over the proposed event.ABVP alleged that the postponement was a "stalling tactic" intended to allow public outrage to subside. It said institutions of national repute should not become platforms for what it described as political propaganda centred on Khalid.The student body referred to Khalid's alleged links to the 2016 JNU controversy, Afzal Guru commemorations, CAA-NRC protests and the 2020 Delhi riots.