Digvijaya Singh urges Umar Khalid’s release, accuses BJP-RSS of targeting Muslims

Senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh has once again stirred the nation’s political cauldron — this time with an impassioned defence of jailed activist and former JNU scholar Umar Khalid, whom he described as “completely innocent” and a victim of “grave injustice.”

In a Facebook post that has since gone viral, Singh portrayed Khalid not as a conspirator, but as “a brilliant academic”, urging his immediate release and calling for justice long denied. Sharing an article titled “Ek Itihaskar Ki Baat” on Khalid’s research work, the veteran leader declared:

“Umar Khalid is innocent and is facing grave injustice. He is a PhD scholar, not a traitor by any standards. He should be released immediately.”

In a separate post that ended with the invocation “Jai Siya Ram,” Singh accused the BJP and RSS of conspiring to “falsely implicate Muslims”, claiming the pattern of arrests and selective prosecution revealed a deeper malaise in India’s justice system.

His remarks — timed amid the Supreme Court’s ongoing hearings on Khalid’s bail plea — have reignited the debate over the delicate balance between liberty and national security, and the selective application of anti-terror laws like the UAPA. Khalid has spent over five years in prison, accused in the larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots that claimed 53 lives — charges he continues to deny as politically motivated.

Predictably, the BJP hit back sharply, branding Singh’s comments as “anti-national” and accusing the Congress of “standing with riot masterminds instead of victims.” The party said Singh’s defence of Khalid was proof of the Congress’s “appeasement politics dressed as activism”.

Supporters, however, hailed the post as a courageous act of conscience — a rare voice questioning “institutional bias” in a justice system where, as they allege, Muslim undertrials languish while others walk free. Critics, meanwhile, saw it as another attempt by the Congress veteran to court controversy for political mileage, recalling his earlier defences of activists linked to the Bhima Koregaon and anti-CAA movements.

Adding a personal touch, Singh even cited a recent case in Aligarh — where those who wrote “I Love Mohammad” on a temple wall turned out to be Hindus — to underscore what he called “the politics of engineered hate.”

As the Supreme Court resumes hearings on Khalid’s bail plea, Singh’s words have rekindled a polarising debate: is this the voice of a statesman defending constitutional principles, or that of a politician playing with the embers of identity and faith?

Either way, the echoes of his post — signed with “Jai Siya Ram” — have travelled far beyond the walls of social media, into the heart of India’s uneasy conversation about justice, dissent, and democracy.

With IANS inputs