Kanhaiya Kumar is the current President of
Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union. He is also a leader of the
All India Student Federation (AISF), the student wing of the
Communist Party of India (CPI).
In February 2016, he was arrested and charged with
sedition
by the Delhi police for allegedly raising anti-India slogans in a
student rally. The rally was called to protest the 2013 hanging of
Mohammed Afzal Guru, a
Kashmiri separatist convicted for the
2001 Indian Parliament attack.
[1] Kumar was released on interim bail on 2 March, 2016 for lack of conclusive evidence.
[2][3] Kumar denied the charges, and upon his release, gave a speech in favour of freedom in India.
[4]
In parallel, a disciplinary committee constituted by JNU
Vice-Chancellor have also investigated the controversial event and
observed that the organizers have organized the event by circumventing
the ‘permission process’. Hence, strict actions was taken against the
persons involved. This includes imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kanhaiya
Kumar.
[5] [6][7][8]
Early life and political career
Kanhaiya Kumar was born in January 1987,
[9] and brought up in the village Bihat (near
Barauni) in the
Begusarai district,
Bihar. Kanhaiya was born into a
Bhumihar caste, an upper cast community in Bihar.
[4][10] The village is part of the
Teghra legislative assembly constituency, known to be a stronghold of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
[11] Kumar’s father, Jaishankar Singh, owns about an acre of farmland and currently paralysed. His mother, Meena Devi, is an
Anganwadi worker. He has an elder brother, Manikant, who works as a supervisor with a company in Assam.
[12] His younger brother, Prince, is preparing for the civil services exam.
[9] His family members have traditionally been supporters of the CPI.
[13]
Kanhaiya Kumar studied till Class VI at Madhya Vidyalaya, Masnadpur, in Bihar before joining R. K. C. High School in
Barauni, an industrial town in Bihar.
[9] During his school days, Kumar took part in several plays and activities organized by IPTA (
Indian People’s Theatre Association),
a left-leaning cultural group going back to the days of India’s freedom
struggle. He cleared his Class X board exams in 2002 with a first
division.
[9]
After school, Kanhaiya joined the Ram Ratan Singh College at Mokama,
around 25 km west of Bihat, taking up science in Class XI-XII.
[9]
Kanhaiya graduated in geography from the College of Commerce, Patna in
2007, with a first class. It was here that he began his involvement in
student politics.
[14]
He joined the AISF and a year later was selected as a delegate at its
conference in Patna. After completing his post graduation with MA in
sociology from the Nalanda Open University, Patna, again securing a
first class, Kanhaiya Kumar moved to
Delhi and after ranked first in the JNU entrance exam in 2011,
[15] joined JNU where he is currently pursuing a
PhD in African studies at the School of International Studies.
[16]
In 2015 September, Kanhaiya Kumar became the first AISF member to
become president of the JNU students’ union, defeating the AISA (
All India Students Association), ABVP (
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad), SFI (
Students' Federation of India) and NSUI (
National Students' Union of India)
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.
[17]
2016 sedition controversy
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”.
[18] During his interrogation Kanhaiya insisted that he did not say anything that was seditious.
[19]
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.
[20]
Kanhaiya Kumar's parents have stated that their son was being victimized for his opposition to
Hindutva politics.
[21]
When Kumar was brought to the Patiala House court on February 15, 2016,
JNU students and professors, as well as journalists, were attacked by a
group of lawyers. BJP MLA O.P. Sharma was also involved in the assault,
although he later denied the charge.
[22] On 17 February, Kumar was once again assaulted by some lawyers inside the Patiala House court.
[23] On February 22, 2016,
India Today
broadcast a video in which three lawyers of the Patiala House court
claimed that they had beaten Kanhaiya Kumar while the latter was in
police custody.
[24]
A six member Supreme Court-appointed panel later confirmed that the
policemen present at the Court were responsible for the security lapses,
and further stating that police allowed 2 persons to enter the court
room, and continued to let the assault take place, in direct violation
of the SC direction on Kanhaiya's safety.
[25]
On 2 March 2016, Kumar was granted interim bail for 6 months 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."
[26]
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, "amputation is the only treatment."
[2][27]
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.
[3]
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 stated, 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).
[28][29][30] The speech won accolades from the leaders of non-BJP parties as well as independent commentators.
[31][32][33][34] Shashi Tharoor commented that it turned Kumar into a "nationwide political star," and congratulated BJP for creating his phenomenon.
[35]
Some people also expressed concern that his speech did not address "the
graveness of alleged anti-national slogans" shouted at JNU and what he
did to stop them.
[36]
Following his release from jail, Kumar has faced bounties and death
threats. Kuldeep Varshnay, a leader of the youth wing of BJP was
expelled from the organisation for offering Rs 5 lakh as a reward to
anyone who cut off Kumar’s tongue.
[37] Posters were put up in New Delhi offering Rs 11 lakh as a reward to anyone who shoots Kumar.
[38] Adarsh Sharma who allegedly put up these posters was arrested on 7 March 2016.
[39]
A high-level inquiry committee of Jawaharlal Nehru University found out
that provocative slogans at the controversial February 9 event inside
the campus were raised by a group of outsiders, wearing masks.
[40]
According to
Bollywood film maker
Vivek Agnihotri,
Kanhaiya Kumar is a victim of political agendas and is being used as an
"intellectual terrorist" to wage a war against the state. Agnihotri
made a film called
Buddha in a Traffic Jam on such a theme and he claims that Kanhaiya Kumar fits his character.
[41]
Other controversies
Statements alleging human rights violations by the Indian Army
On 8 March 2016, speaking at an
International Women's Day event, Kumar referred to the
rape of Kashmiri women committed by personnel of the Indian Army. This speech was criticised as being "anti-national" by the
Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
(BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP. Kumar is reported to have said; "No
matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human
rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA. While we have a
lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that
in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel." The BJYM filed a
complaint in a Delhi police station against Kumar and JNU professor
Nivedita Menon, alleging that they made "anti-national" statements.
[42] Mayank Tiwari, a BJP worker in Bihar, filed sedition and defamation case against Kumar in a civil court in Patna.
[43][44] Jitendra Tiwari and Farooq Khan, leaders of the Youth Congress in
Allahabad, published a poster attacking Kumar for statements that were supposedly derogatory towards the army.
[45]
Alleged threatening of a female student
On 10 March 2016, Kamlesh Narwana, Ex JNU student unveiled an
unsigned University order dated October 16, 2015, according to which,
Kanhaiya Kumar was fined by the JNU administration last year for
“misbehaving” with a girl student and “threatening” her. It was
subsequently reported via
Press Trust of India
that "the university administration confirmed in a statement that the
letter[order] was authentic and action was taken against the student
leader".
[46][47][48] Narwana, who is currently an Assistant Professor at the
Delhi University,
wrote an open letter to Kumar and posted it on Facebook, in which she
stated that Kumar was urinating in the open and, when she objected, he
became abusive and threatened her, following which she filed a complaint
against him with JNU proctor office in June 2015. The student wing of
CPI, All India Students' Federation, the organisation of which Kumar is a
member, also came out to react, stating that the case was an attempt to
defame Kanhaiya and to tarnish his image given the suspicious timing of
the news; even as it acknowledged the case of public urination, it
maintained that Kumar had not misbehaved with Narwana but may have had a
verbal argument.
[49][50][51]
Subsequent attacks on Kumar
On March 10, 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar was manhandled and abused on the
JNU campus by a man who accused him of being a “deshdrohi” (traitor).
The man was later identified as Vikas Chaudhary of Gaziabad, who stated
that he wanted to “teach Kanhaiya a lesson”. Addressing students later
in the day, Kumar said such incidents couldn’t scare him. “You can kill
me, you can silence me but you cannot scare me. But before you kill me,
think about Rohith Vemula. When you killed one Rohith, several Rohiths
came forward. If you kill someone else now, many others will stand up.
This is all happening as part of a plan."
[52]
On March 15, 2016, four people tried to attack Kanhaiya Kumar in
separate instances. The attacks occurred during a march in New Delhi of
JNU students and staff led by Kumar, demanding the release of the
students who had been arrested and charged with sedition. Three
individuals shouted abuses at Kumar during his speech near the
Parliament Street police station before being taken away by the police,
while another managed to climb the truck over which Kumar was standing
while addressing the gathering. The fourth man was also taken away by
the police before he could reach Kumar. The four men were released from
custody later in the evening.
[53]
On March 28, 2016, Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena's national president,
Amit Jani, posted a threat on Facebook that his organisation will storm
the JNU campus and gun down Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid unless the
two leave Delhi by March 31.
[54]
NEW
DELHI—After facing criticism from Sikhs internationally, Kanhaiya Kumar
has stated that his comments were taken out of context in an article
published by Outlook India and Huffington Post India on March 28.
Outlook India quoted Kumar as saying, “There is difference between
emergency and fascism. During emergency, goons of only one party were
engaged into goondaism, in this (fascism) entire state machinery is
resorting to goondaism. There is difference between riots of 2002 and
1984 Sikh Pogroms.”
