Mumbai, January 31: Self-proclaimed JNU student leader Sharjeel Imam's hands should be chopped off for "beheading the Muslim community", the Shiv Sena said in its mouthpiece Saamana on Friday. Sharjeel Imam was charged with sedition after he made a "provocative" speech reportedly at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh on January 13. He arrested by Delhi Police from Bihar and a court sent him to five days in police custody. Sharjeel Imam, Who Called For Splitting North-East From India, Charged With Sedition on Direction of Modi Government, Says Amit Shah in Delhi.

"Sharjeel has beheaded the Muslim community. His hand should be cut off and put on the highway on the chicken's neck corridor," the Shiv Sena said in the Saamana editorial. "Attempts are being made to escalate the dispute between Hindus and Muslims. Attempts are also being made to create anarchy and a civil war-like situation that exists in Iraq and Afghanistan," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party added. Sharjeel Imam Arrest: Delhi Police Gets Transit Remand of JNU Student by Jehanabad Court For Making Inflammatory Speech.

The Shiv Sena asserted that the central government carries a responsibility that no other Sharjeel should emerge. Terming his speech as "anti-national" and "separatist", the party said: "Sharjeel's statement has handed the BJP an issue for the Delhi assembly polls." On Thursday, the Shiv Sena made a veiled attack on the Modi government and sought to know why in the past five years such talks of 'breaking up' the country have increased.

"It's not a question of one Sharjeel or another Kanhaiya Kumar, but the whole trend of pushing the youth towards separatism. In Maharashtra, well-known intellectuals and activists have been slapped with sedition charges. The country's social and religious unity is practically finished," the party said in twin edits in Saamana and Dopahar Ka Saamana.

In a video which went viral on social media, Sharjee Imam was seen talking about splitting the northeast from India to block the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "We know how Muslims are being treated in Assam. We have to save people from the NRC. The only way to do this is by cutting off northeast from India," he was heard saying in the video.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 31, 2020 11:51 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).