Sharjeel Usmani, ex-student of the Aligarh Muslim University, is under heavy fire - with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena targeting him, the Pune police charging him with ‘promoting enmity between different groups,’ and sedition charges against him in Lucknow. Organisers of the Elgar Parishad have released a statement firmly standing by him and the controversial speech he allegedly delivered on January 30 at its conclave.

The statement released by the organising body of the Elgar Parishad - the Bhima Koregaon Shaurya Din Prerna Abhiyan - implores people to read Usmani's speech in its entirety and understand the context, while also stating that the persecution due to his speech is primarily because of his religion. “The ‘Muslim’ part of his identity had to be mentioned because the perverted, vile, and violent reaction to Sharjeel’s speech is solely because of his religion,” says the statement.