Man who tried to shoot Umar Khalid gets ticket from BJP-ally Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena has fielded Naveen Dalaal as their candidate from Bahadurgarh for the assembly polls in Haryana on October 21. He is one of the two people accused of trying to shoot at Umar Khalid, activist and former JNUSU leader. He claims his ideologies are in line with the party’s ideologies, saying he is not interested in Congress or BJP, but Shiv Sena really appealed to him. He joined Shiv Sena about six months ago.

A self-proclaimed gau rakshak, he was moved by the Shiv Sena’s stances on “nationalism and cow protection”. “We are fighting the same battle — for nationalism, cow protection and recognition for our freedom fighters,” Dalal, 29, told The Indian Express. “BJP and Congress governments don’t have anything to do with farmers, martyrs, cows or the poor. They are just interested in politics,” he said, reported The Indian Express.

Vikram Yadav, Shiv Sena’s Haryana (south) chief, ecstatically confirmed that Dalal will be the candidate from Bahadurgarh, saying, “He has been aggressively standing up for issues like cow protection and standing up against those who raise anti-national slogans. Hence, we have chosen him.”

Naveen Dalal and Darwesh Shahpur were involved in trying to shoot at Umar Khalid in August 2018, when he was outside the Constitution Club in New Delhi. He was unharmed because their gun jammed; and they escaped. However, they were later arrested after they released a video in which they said the attack was an “Independence Day gift for the nation”.

He is currently out on bail, but this is not the only case against him, reported The Indian Express. In his election affidavit, Dalal has specified that there are 3 criminal cases awaiting against him, together with the Delhi Police Special Cell’s FIR for attacking Umar Khalid. He also has an FIR registered in Bahadurgarh under sections 147/149 of the IPC (rioting), and one more for the gruesome act of marching into BJP’s office with a cow’s head, which is under several sections of the IPC.

When The Indian Express spoke to Dalal, he said he did not want to speak about the Umar Khalid issue and that it was not just about Umar Khalid. He said he will someday, speak about this.

Defending his actions, Shiv Sena claims that this was his way of “showing love towards his country. “He didn’t have a personal issue (with Khalid). He was upset that these people had chanted anti-India slogans in a university in the capital. He was also upset that there was no action taken against them. So from Naveen’s perspective, it was a way to show his patriotism,” Yadav said to The Indian Express.