The Wire gave space to anti-national Sharjeel Imam to write. And now they are openly defending him

The Shaheen Bagh protests continue getting exposed as grossly Islamist, divisive and anti national protests. The latest and most telling revelation coming in the form of Sharjeel Imam’s hateful, divisive and anti-national speech. While the ostensible aim of the protests is to raise voice against the CAA and NRC, the real substance of the protests gets exposed with such hateful speeches.

Imam said that with the help of only 5 lakh people, his gang can easily engineer the break-up of India by amputating Northeast India from the rest of the country. He stated, “Cutting off Assam is our responsibility. Let Assam and India be separated, only then they will listen to us. You know what the condition of Muslims is in Assam, CAA, NRC has been done over there, people have been thrown in detention camps and well, the massacre is taking place over there but in the next 6-8 months, we will find that all Bengalis have been killed, be it Hindu or Muslim. So, if we want to help Assam, we ill have to close the gateway to the northeast.”

Imam also referred to the Siliguri Corridor or the Chicken’s Neck, a 22 kilometre narrow stretch of land which connects the northeast with the rest of India and is crucial for the country’s security. He added, “The Chicken’s neck belongs to the Muslims, that area is dominated by Muslims.”

The seditionist, shocking speech really exposes the sinister anti-India conspiracy behind the protests, but a big question that arises is who is giving space to such anti-national elements which gives them the space to air their views? And why are being they given such space?

A little bit of research on Sharjeel Imam brings one to The Wire. This is perhaps the only place on the Web where we find substantial footprints of Imam.

The Wire which has drawn fire in the past for propagating anti-India agenda, published four Opeds written by Sharjeel Imam, one of them written only last year in the run up to the Parliamentary polls.

One of the particularly objectionable editorials written by Imam dated May 7, 2018, argued that it was time to “Absolve Jinnah”. In an attempt to whitewash Jinnah’s sins, Imam wrote, “Partition harmed the Indian Muslims most, but to put the blame on Jinnah, or the Muslim League, is not necessarily a correct historical reading.”

Throughout this editorial eulogising Jinnah, Imam absolved the architect of India’s partition and the Direction Action Day that resulted in the violent murders of millions of innocent Hindus, Sikhs and other communities. He even went to the extent of arguing that Jinnah’s brand of communalism was “positive communalism.”

As hateful and disgusting as the editorial was, its timing was equally questionable and critical. It came at a time when a well-coordinated attempt was being made to downplay Jinnah’s wrongs. The AMU Jinnah portrait controversy had followed Mani Shankar Aiyar’s shocking comments lauding Jinnah on Pakistani soil.

It was at this time that The Wire had given space to an anti national, Islamist like Imam to air his views. Despite the clear apprehensions and threats of attempts to downplay Jinnah’s historical wrongs and absolving the mass murderer, exploding into a more vociferous anti-India sentiment, The Wire had given space to Imam.

Today, over 5 police forces- viz Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Delhi and UP Police have filed an FIR against the organiser of the Shaheen Bagh protest, Sharjeel Imam, who is reportedly absconding.

By giving Imam the space to speak his mind, The Wire has ultimately led to his anti-India narrative taking an uglier turn. While the entire nation is shocked by Imam’s seditionist utterances and public confessions about his plans to cause secessionism in the Northeast, The Wire seems to stand by its decision.

In a latest story, The Wire argues that Imam’s speech, albeit “irresponsible” cannot be termed “sedition”. Only, The Wire can explain what, if not a public confession to cause unrest and secessionism, amounts to sedition. The Wire may choose to remain in denial, but it is now crystal clear that it was essentially the space given to the anti-national ideology of Imam by the leftist portal, which emboldened him into making such blatant threats of violating India’s territorial sovereignty.