E-Paper
Parliament security breach: Perpetrators' social media activity shows misguided fixation with revolutionaries
Here is a reconstruction of the activities of three of the five perpetrators' from their social media profiles.
Photos of Indian freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose and Chandrashekhar Azad; quotes by Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro and American socialist and labour activist Albert Parsons; photos and videos from the farmers’ protests; and visuals capturing the plight of MGNREGA workers – this is what three of the five people accused in the Parliament breach have posted on social media over the last two years.
On Wednesday, one of them, Lalit Jha, posted a video on Instagram of two people – Neelam Singh (Neelam Azad on social media) and Amol Shinde – chanting “Jai Bhim”, “Jai Bharat”, and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, while releasing coloured gas from canisters outside Parliament. Here is a reconstruction of the activities of three of the five perpetrators from their social media profiles.
Neelam Singh
Singh’s Facebook page has 313 followers. She identifies herself as a social activist and mentions the name of a youth organisation, Pragatisheel Azad Yuva Sangathan (PAYS), in the description. Her last post, dated June 4, 2023, is a photo of her, in a pink T-shirt and jeans, being dragged away by women police personnel. It carries the caption: “One who tolerates injustice is more guilty than one who commits the injustice. Let’s all raise our voice and fight against exploitation of women... Inklab Jindabad.” The location is tagged as Jantar Mantar.
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Her profile picture is with a group of people, with one of them holding a framed photograph of Dr BR Ambedkar. On March 23 (Shaheed Diwas), she posted a tribute to Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, the three revolutionaries who were hanged by the British in 1931. On February 5, she posted photos from a gathering on Sant Ravidas Jayanti, and in January, from Ghaso Khurd village in Jind. Singh also posted videos of her speeches at various protest sites – suggesting she was a serial protester.
Lalit Jha
Jha, who posted the video of Singh and Shinde chanting slogans outside Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, describes himself as a teacher, and has 293 followers on Instagram. Of the 535 posts on his profile, many are quotes of Indian freedom fighters and revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Bose, and Azad, and Hindi poets such as Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Suryankant Tripathi ‘Nirala’ and satirist Harishankar Parsai. He was tagged by Neelam Singh in at least seven posts since September, suggesting they knew each other.
Amol Shinde
Amol Shinde, 25 a resident of Latur, posted a photo of Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus around 8am on Wednesday on his Instagram handle, which has 357 followers. His profile, too, is peppered with posts on Bhagat Singh, Azad, and Bose. His description on Instagram reads, “Shaheedo ki shahadat ko salaam aur naman”, and mentions that he enjoys running. On August 10 this year, he posted a photo from Kartavya Path with “shaant, ekaant, anant” written on it. A Delhi Police officer told HT that three of the five people – including Shinde – came to Delhi for a recce of the Parliament during the Monsoon session, which was held in August.
