New Delhi: In the lexicon of political slapsticks, 'jumla' is probably the most overused word in the last few years. Originally an Urdu word for 'sentence', 'jumla' hardly means that in the Indian political circus now. Congress uses it left, right and centre so much so that the poor word has turned into a perfect 'meme material'. Amit Shah first used it in 2015 to explain Prime Minister Narendra Modi's immortal utterance of Rs-15-lakh-in-bank-accounts-of-poor-people.
Since then 'jumla' was hijacked by the opposition leaders and anti-Modi speakers who prefixed and suffixed it wherever and whenever they wanted. After eight years of highs and lows, the word Wednesday made it to the Delhi High Court where judges discussed whether using 'Jumla' against the PM is correct?
The matter came up during the hearing of the appeal of JNU scholar-activist Umar Khalid in the Delhi riots' "larger conspiracy" case. A division bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar, during the hearing, took note of the video clip of Khalid's alleged offensive speech delivered in Amravati in February 2021.
Before the bench, Khalid's counsel Trideep Pais argued that the harsh words used against the government cannot amount to an offense under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. During the course of the hearing, Justice Mridul asked: "This word jumla is used against the Prime Minister of India. Is it proper?" at which the counsel said that it is not illegal to criticise the policies of the government.
Earlier on April 22, the bench had said that the speech delivered by Umar Khalid at Amravati, was "offensive and obnoxious". "Did Gandhiji ever employ this language? Did Shaheed Bhagat Singh ever employ such language? We have no qualms about permitting free speech but what are you saying?" the bench had asked. Last month, Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat had denied bail to Khalid, observing that there were reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation against the accused are prima facie true
Also read: 'No criticism, no jumlas': Congress hits back at PM Modi over high excise duty
