In a recent article published on Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the party has suggested Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam’s hand be chopped off. The article was published on January 29, the day the student hailing from Bihar was arrested on charges of sedition.

While addressing a protest rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the student said that Assam should be cut off from the rest of India. To this, Sena responded saying his hand should be chopped off instead and displayed at the highway on the Siliguri corridor.

Criticising the JNU student, the Saamana article wrote: “Sharjeel has beheaded the Muslim community. His hand should be cut off and put on the highway on the chicken’s neck corridor.”

Notably, the chicken’s neck corridor is located at a strategic and sensitive location in the state of West Bengal. It connects the northeast with the rest of India, while also leading to Nepal and Bangladesh on either side.

The Sena article also mentions that there is an attempt to sabotage the country and disrupt peace by inciting hatred between Hindus and Muslims. The party that has joined hands with National Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar to rule Maharashtra, also expresses suspicion about an attempt to give rise to a civil war-like situation in India, similar to the infightings in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Attacking Sharjeel for delivering an “anti-national and separatist” speech, the article labelled the JNU student as “more dangerous than Leftist leader Kanhaiya Kumar”. It further said: “Urban Naxalism is already here. Though Sharjeel has been arrested, the government’s task is to ensure that there are no more Sharjeels emerging in the country.”

He had said: “If we all come together, we can sever the Northeast from India. If we cannot do it permanently, then we should do this for at least one to two months.”