Senior Maharashtra BJP leader and former Mumbai MP Kirit Somiaya on Monday (3 February) filed a complaint against participants of Queer Azaadi Mumbai Pride parade participants who were caught on camera raising slogans in support of radical Islamist Sharjeel Imam who has been arrested on charges of making seditious statements at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh.
In the event which was held on 1 February, a group of participants started raising radical slogans and chanted ‘ Sharjeel Tere Sapno Ko Manjil Tak Pahuchayenge’ (We will fulfill your dreams, Sharjeel).
In the video that has gone viral, a group of people can be heard chanting radical slogans while also raising ‘Jai Bheem’ flags.
This led to intense outrage on social media and many members of the LGBT+ community too condemned this act. The organisers of the pride march have also since then dissociated themselves from the controversial sloganeering.
Kirit Somaiya who has now filed a complaint against these sloganeers has also alleged that the Uddhav Thackeray led state government is shielding them by putting pressure on the police not to register an FIR in the matter.