Umar, against whom sedition charges haven’t been proved more than two years after being charged, has several times been attacked, heckled and roughed up by parivar activists but never before with a firearm. An event he was scheduled to speak at was disrupted by ABVP brickbats in Delhi University last year.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti tweeted: “Today’s attack on Umar Khalid by hate-mongers days before Independence Day is a mockery of our democracy. Certain sections of the media too played a sinister role in whipping up public frenzy by projecting him as anti-national. We have always taken great pride in being the world’s largest democracy. Do we really want to be reduced to a mobocracy where is no regard for rule of law?”

Srinagar police on Monday filed an FIR on a complaint from JNU activist Shehla Shora, who like Umar and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani has been receiving threats, allegedly from gangster Ravi Poojary.

Shora said in a statement: “The attack itself points to the atmosphere of hate and lynching that has been created in the country. Certain political outfits such as the RSS, BJP and their mouthpiece media outlets such as Republic TV and Times Now, etc. are responsible for demonising activists by calling them ‘anti-national’, ‘traitor’ and ‘urban naxal’ on prime time shows, without any basis.

“When Umar Khalid was released from jail, I, in my capacity as vice-president of (the JNU students’ union) had asked the Delhi police for security for Umar Khalid. However, the request was ignored…. The attack was an act of terror.”

Mevani said in a video on Twitter that he suspected “the same people who killed Gauri Lankesh, Kalburgi, Dabholkar and Pansare”.

“None but the Sangh parivar and BJP can attack Umar Khalid…. Last month I got threats to kill me and Umar and Shehla, for four days. Despite complaining, we have no security.”

The Congress is yet to issue a statement but spokesperson Sanjay Jha told The Telegraph: “This violent manifestation of a democracy in peril should not only be condemned in the strongest possible terms but the culprits should also be caught, to find out the political game plan behind this.”

The JNU students’ union burnt an effigy of the “communal fascist brigade” on campus and said in a statement: “We see this cowardly act as a culmination of the hate-filled propaganda that this Modi government has spewed against Umar, JNU students and all those voices who have questioned this regime.”

Fatima Nafees, mother of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, cries after the attack on Umar Khalid. (PTI)

New Delhi: Monday’s suspected assassination bid on former JNU student Umar Khalid in the heart of the capital has shocked politicians and academics but not surprised too many of them.

After the attack, the programme Umar had come to attend continued at Constitution Club. “Khauf se Azaadi” featured families of victims of communal violence — both Muslim and Hindu — as well as academics and politicians.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan told the audience: “The Prime Minister himself is leading the social media lynch mobs…. The attack on Umar shows the importance of this event. An environment of hate has been created so that no one speaks up in the age of fascism.”

Delhi University professor Apoorvanand said: “These people who feel that their protectors are sitting in the government and they don’t need to fear anything are not wrong. We have seen how lynching convicts were garlanded by a minister. The PM has supported this culture of violence.”

Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha, who was at the meeting, tweeted: “The attack on @UmarKhalidJNU at #ConstitutionClubOfIndia tells you where have we reached.… And we were supposed to talk (about) Khauf se Azaadi. Competing thoughts will now not progress through dialogue but bullets and explosives. Jai Hind.”

A CPI statement said: “This is a blatant attack on freedom of expression as well as other democratic rights. The party warns RSS-BJP and its affiliates over such heinous crimes and appeals to the masses to be vigilant against such desperate murderous moves.”

CPM politburo member Brinda Karat said: “The people from Sangh parivar who tagged him (Umar) as anti-national got a licence to kill him like they killed Gauri Lankesh. This comes at a time when a Hindutva activist has been found with a huge cache of weaponry for terror attacks across India.”