Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday once again spoke up about the uproar that had been caused after police arrested students of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. After saying a few days earlier that those who raise anti-national slogans will "not be spared," Singh went even further. He told the media that Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed supported the incident at JNU, adding that this was unfortunate.
WATCH: 'Unfortunate that JNU incident has been supported by LeT Chief Hafiz Saeed', says HM Rajnath Singhhttps://t.co/Djplbeakyo
— ANI (@ANI_news) February 14, 2016
Singh also made the expected noises about asking political parties to come together and condemn those raising antinational slogans, while asking police to take strict action against the guilty without harassing the innocent.
The home minister would do well to realise that even the JNU students accused of shouting about the destruction of India were not technically doing anything illegal and moreover that the Delhi Police appears to now be detaining people simply because they "look like JNU students".
But that aside, Singh's statement about Saeed's alleged support to the protests was most intriguing. It might seem to make sense – the people at the protest on Tuesday are accused of calling for Kashmir to be freed and for India to be broken apart, causes that Saeed and the LeT espouse. But Saeed is also the head of a terror outfit whose modus operandi involves sending attackers across the Pakistani border, not sending students to a Leftist university.
It was unclear where the home minister got his information from, although it wasn't entirely new information for those who have been paying attention online. That's because Delhi Police had a few days earlier tweeted something similar.
ALERT!@MumbaiPolice @KolkataPolice @hydcitypolice @CPBlr @CPMumbaiPolice @TelanganaDGP @BlrCityPolice @ANI_news pic.twitter.com/DIFWKrGZME
— Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) February 12, 2016
That tweet got thousands of retweets, but there seemed to be a bit of a problem. First of all, no one could confirm that the account in question, HafeezSaeedJUD was in fact run by the LeT chief. Earlier reports for example had suggested that Saeed's Twitter account was HafizSaeedJUD, which, after being suspended returned to Twitter as HafizSaeedJUD1, an account that was also suspended since. The one quoted by the Delhi Police has not been suspended, but was deactivated and is no longer available.
In fact, the Delhi Police tweet also doesn't claim that the LeT is supporting the JNU protests. Instead, the police simply cautioned people against getting carried away by "seditious anti-national rhetoric". Nevertheless, some journalists seem to have concluded that this is equivalent to the LeT supporting not just the incident at JNU, but also the protests against the heavy-handed police response to it since.
LeT founder & designated global terrorist #HafizSaeed backs JNU students. He wants Pak to trend #PakstandswithJNU. Breaking on @IndiaToday
— GAURAV C SAWANT (@gauravcsawant) February 12, 2016
Reports came out suggesting that Saeed backs the "JNU students" and wanted a particular hashtag to trend on Twitter. Twitter users of course quickly pointed out that the first person to have used that trend, was in fact, the journalist in question.
Strangely the only tweet with #PakStandswithJNU is the one below. So who's actually helping #HafizSaeed? https://t.co/rC1AlC87d2
— Aditya Menon (@AdityaMenon22) February 12, 2016
@gauravcsawant Hey @IndiaToday pls look below, Ur Sr Editor is 1st to Tweet with the hashtag #PakStandswithJNU >> pic.twitter.com/zj6W8dXlot
— MalharTakle (@MalharTakle) February 12, 2016
Indeed, ever since, almost everyone using that hashtag happened to actually be people in India condeming its use or pointing out the absurdity of the situation.
From that initial spurt of information, Rajnath Singh now seems to have added his voice to those who claim that Saeed somehow supports the JNU incident and even the protests in the aftermath of police action.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury however was unconvinced. He tweeted, after Singh's revelation, of having met the home minister the day before with no reference to any Pakistani involvement during that interaction.
The Union Home Minister has made a very serious allegation about terrorists 'backing' JNU protests. We hope that he has concrete proof.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 14, 2016
When we met the Home Minister yesterday, he never mentioned Hafiz Saeed to us but only harped on the slogans being raised at the protests.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 14, 2016
This seems to be a case of shifting goalposts with the sole design of tarnishing JNU.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 14, 2016
Considering the gravity of the charge made by no less than the Union Home Minister,we would like him to share the evidence with the country.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 14, 2016
Other leaders have also chimed in, regarding Singh's suggestion that the real cause behind the JNU incident had something to do with Pakistan.
Cracking down on students & using #HafizSaeed to justify the crack down is a new low, even for this NDA government. #JNUCrackdown
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) February 14, 2016
The Home Minister must go public with the evidence collected that enabled him to level this charge against the #JNU students #HafizSaeed
— Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) February 14, 2016
And, as might be expected, the rest of twitter was also happy to chime in.
@AdityaMenon22 @gauravcsawant @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/dzYOvJXPEQ
— R Prasad (@rprasad66) February 12, 2016
"Hey, I just met you,
— Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) February 14, 2016
And this is crazy,
But you look like an anti-national,
So hands up baby!" #DelhiPoliceValentineSongs
"You're anti-national, and you're anti-national, everyone's anti-national!" - Narendra Winfrey https://t.co/wK9qvQtBjD
— Overrated Outcast (@over_rated) February 14, 2016
Nikamma to Hafiz Saeed:
— Summer Brumby (@brownbrumby) February 14, 2016
Which Uni r u backing in India?
HS: I dont know about any Uni in India
Nikamma: Ok I give u 3 options JNU JNU JNU
The Hafiz Saeed Twitter account that supported JNU Slogan Murugans is a fake one. Doesn't belong to JuD terrorist. https://t.co/RqrIdUjQ8R
— Kamlesh Singh (@kamleshksingh) February 14, 2016
The first tweet on this hashtag is by @gauravcsawant. Is he himself working for Hafiz Saeed to create trouble here? pic.twitter.com/3oP4fdeDN9
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) February 12, 2016