Say you guarantee there will be no attack on those who criticise your govt: Umar Khalid to Modi

A day after the attack on him, JNU student Umar Khalid urged Prime Minister Modi to "please state"that he guarantees the safety of people who criticisehis government and "its many failures".

"Modi Ji, you had asked for suggestions for your IDay speech," Umar tweeted.

"I have a suggestion to make - can you please state that you gurantee that there will be no attack on those who criticize your govt & its many failures," he added.

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Umar's tweet contained a link to his statement — written on Facebook — on the attack on him.

"They cant scare us into silence!" Umar wrote.

"With the repeated death threats against my life, and having seen the assassinations of one activist after the other in the last few years, I somehow knew that someday a gun may be turned against me too.... What is most paradoxical is that I had gone to attend an event named “Freedom from Fear” today when an unidentified gunman attacked me and tried to kill me in front of the Constitution Club," Umar wrote.

"But I want to state here that if something untoward would have happened yesterday, or if it were to happen tomorrow, then do not just hold that “unidentified gunman” responsible. The real culprits are those who from their seats of power have been breeding an atmosphere of hatred, of bloodlust and fear. The real culprits are those who have provided an atmosphere of complete impunity for assassins and mob lynchers," Umar wrote.

"Even today, even after the police has registered an offence under Section 307 and Arms Act, why is it that a MP from BJP, Meenakshi Lekhi and other saffron agents online are trying to suggest that the attack never happened, or worse that I engineered it on my own? Even as I haven’t pointed fingers at anyone, why are they so desperate to twist the narrative? What should this desperation be taken as a sign of? Their own culpability?" Umar wrote.

He ended his statement with the words, "Jai Bhim, Lal Salaam."