‘Won’t tolerate interference in internal matter’: BJP slams Mamdani’s note to Umar Khalid

Meanwhile, a group of US lawmakers has written to Indian Ambassador to the US Vinay Kwatra urging that Khalid be granted bail and a “fair, timely trial in accordance with international law.”

In a hand-written note to former JNU Students’ Union leader Umar Khalid, currently behind bars in relation to his alleged involvement in criminal cases related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, Mamdani said he often thinks about his thoughts on bitterness.

Addressed “Dear Umar”, the note delivered to Khalid’s parents during their visit to the US in December 2025, was made public Thursday – the day India-origin Mamdani was sworn in as the New York mayor. A picture of the note shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Khalid’s partner Banojyotsna Lahiri read: “I think of your words on bitterness often, and the importance of not letting it consume one’s self. It was a pleasure to meet your parents. We are all thinking of you.”

Reacting to it, BJP’s Bhatia said India “would not tolerate” such “interference”.

Bhatia also lashed out at Rahul Gandhi, alleging that the Congress leader meets “anti-India forces and enemies of India” during his foreign trips, and encourages them to spread “falsehood” against the country.

He also accused Gandhi of lying about India during his visits abroad. “It is not appropriate for him (Gandhi, as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha) to have enmity with India and maintain brotherhood with George Soros (American billionaire and investor) and Ilhan Omar (US lawmaker). This is not fair. People of India will never forgive him,” he added.

Lahiri said Khalid’s parents, Sahiba Khanam and Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, had travelled to the US to visit their daughter ahead of a family wedding.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Ilyas (70) said, “We had met Mr Mamdani on December 9 when we visited the US… We had earlier (in 2023) listened to him read out a letter from Umar’s diary and we wished to meet him. He was kind enough to give us 25 minutes of his time. At the end of the meeting, he said he’d like to share a letter with Umar and wrote a few lines before we left.” He said, “When Umar came back home for a few days to attend his sister’s wedding, we showed that letter to him.” Khalid was granted a two-week interim bail to attend his sister’s wedding.

US Representatives Jim McGovern and Jamie Raskin are among eight lawmakers who wrote to ambassador Kwatra expressing “our continued concern regarding the prolonged pre-trial detention of individuals charged in connection with the February 2020 violence in Delhi,” including Khalid. “The US and India share a long standing strategic partnership that has historically been rooted in democratic values, constitutional governance and strong people-to-people ties,” the letter said, adding that as the world’s largest democracies, both nations have an interest in protecting and upholding freedom, the rule of law, human rights and pluralism. “It is in this spirit” that the lawmakers said they are raising their concerns regarding Khalid’s detention.

He “has been detained without bail for five years for charges levied under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, which independent human rights experts have warned may contravene international standards of equality before the law, due process and proportionality.”

(With PTI inputs)