Interview with Kanhaiya Kumar, President at JNU.
Kanhaiya Kumar is a leader of the All India Student Federation (AISF), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union in 2015. In February 2016, he was arrested and charged with sedition on the charges of raising anti-India slogans in a student rally against the 2013 hanging of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri separatist convicted over the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. On March 2, 2016, he was released on interim bail.
After completing his post graduation, Kanhaiya Kumar moved to Delhi and joined JNU where he is currently pursuing a PhD in African studies at the School of International Studies.[7] In 2015 September, Kanhaiya Kumar became the first AISF member to become president of the JNU students’ union, defeating the AISA , ABVP , SFI and NSUI candidates. Kumar's friends and spectators describe him as a great orator. A speech he made the night before his election is credited as the reason for his victory.
On 12 February 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested by the Delhi police. A case was registered against him on Feb 13, under Indian Penal Code Sections 124-A (sedition) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). He was charged over an event organised by some students at the Jawaharlal Nehru university campus against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, following complaints by Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Maheish Girri and the ABVP. Kanhaiya Kumar denied the charges and said that he was neither shouting any slogan nor saying anything against integrity of the country. He said in an interview that "I dissociate myself from the slogans which were shouted in the event. I have full faith in the Constitution of the country and I always say that Kashmir is an integral part of India”.[citation needed] During his interrogation Kanhaiya insisted that he did not say anything that was seditious.
Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest soon snowballed into a major political controversy and has drawn sharp reactions from opposition parties, teachers, students and academics. Students at Jawaharlal Nehru University went on strike over Kanhaiya Kumar’s arrest, effectively paralysing the University.
On 2 March 2016, Kumar was granted bail by the Delhi High Court, conditional on a 10,000 rupee bail bond and an undertaking that he would not "participate in any anti-national activity."[16] Justice Pratibha Rani noted that there were no recordings of Kumar participating in anti-national slogans. Going beyond the immediate issue, the judge also held that the alleged slogans threaten national integrity and cannot be considered as free speech. She characterized them as a form of "infection," which can either be treated or, in some cases, "amputationi is the only treatment."[2][17] The judge issued the bail on the condition that Kanhaiya should not participate “actively or passively” in such anti-national events. Referring to the anti-national slogans the judge said “the thoughts reflected in the slogans raised by some of the students of JNU who organised and participated in that programme cannot be claimed to be protected as fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression”[18] A separate magisterial investigation appointed by the Delhi Government did not find any evidence of Kanhaiya Kumar participating in anti-national slogans. Out of the 7 videos of the event sent to forensic lab, three were found to be doctored including a clipping of a news channel.
On 3 March 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar gave a speech to a packed auditorium in the JNU campus, during which he said he was seeking, not freedom from India, but freedom within India. He appealed to his fellow students to free the nation from the clutches of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which he said was trying to divide the nation. Referring to the ABVP(right wing student organization), whose members were instrumental in bringing about his arrest, he called them his "opposition", not his enemy. He urged his supporters to keep raising the slogans of azadi (freedom).
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