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Kanhaiya Kumar

Congress
DOB 02 Jan 1987
Age 38 years
birth palce Begusarai, Bihar
profession Politician
Kanhaiya Kumar biography

Kanhaiya Kumar is currently an AICC in-charge of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and a prominent Congress face who is so critical of PM Modi's politics and policies. Kumar has been a key member of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra and walked the entire distance from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in 2023.

A former JNU students union president Kanhaiya jumped into the political fray and joined the Communist Party of India. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Begusarai in Bihar, but lost. Later in September 2021, he joined the Congress party.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he contested from the North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency but suffered a loss against now three-time BJP MP Manoj Tiwari.

For the boy from Begusarai, the Bihar town that’s often called “Mini Moscow” or “Bihar’s Leningrad” for the hold the Communist Party of India (CPI) once had over the region, activism started early. While he was introduced to student politics in school, it was college in Patna where he took the plunge into cultural and political activism.

The former JNU students' union president Kanhaiya studied at R K C High School in Barauni, Begusarai, before joining the College of Commerce, Arts & Science in Patna in 2004 for his graduation. “I performed many plays for IPTA (India People’s Theatre Association) because of which I began reading a lot and got acquainted with Marxism. Once I began taking part in socio-political activities, I met activists of the AISF (All India Students Federation, the CPI’s youth wing), though I had become a member of the organisation by 2002, while still in school,” Kanhaiya had told The Indian Express in 2015, shortly after being elected JNUSU president.

After he graduated from Nalanda Open University, Kanhaiya moved to Delhi and subsequently joined JNU for his MPhil in 2011 at the Centre for African Studies. In 2019, he completed his PhD with his thesis on ‘The Process of De-colonisation and Social Transformation in South Africa, 1994-2015’.

It’s probably a measure of how far politics has travelled since the rise of the BJP that Kanhaiya, a leader of the CPI, saw in the Congress a natural career progression for himself. It is particularly ironic considering Bihar, which saw protracted battles between the CPI and Congress, from the mid-1960s till the late 1990s, now sees both parties as natural allies of each other.

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Kanhaiya Kumar personal life
Father
Jaishankar Singh
Mother
Meena Devi
Education
PhD

KANHAIYA KUMAR NEWS

Kanhaiya Kumar at Idea Exchange: ‘In the Opposition, you will see a reluctance to protect their base vote’

July 21, 2025 7:48 am

AICC in-charge of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Kanhaiya Kumar is expected to play a key role for the Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar

BJP leader files police complaint against Kanhaiya Kumar for 'abusing' PM Modi, RSS

April 13, 2025 7:30 pm

A delegation led by the BJP's media in-charge in Bihar, Danish Eqbal, filed the complaint at the Kotwali police station. Eqbal urged the police to register an FIR against Kumar over his alleged 'abusive' comments.

At Congress session, two views on way forward – keep attacking Modi govt, or offer an alternative

April 09, 2025 4:03 pm

While Kharge repeats claims regarding EVM fraud and BJP undermining of institutions, Tharoor says “Congress must be a party of hope and not of resentment… a party of the future, not just of the past”

Bihar temple ‘washed after Kanhaiya’s visit’, Congress asks: Will non-BJP supporters be treated as ‘untouchables’?

March 28, 2025 7:37 am

A video, which has gone viral, showed that some people purportedly washed the temple soon after Kanhaiya Kumar left the village.

Day with Kanhaiya Kumar on his Bihar Yatra: Focus on migration, jobs; gets mixed response

March 22, 2025 6:39 pm

Congress’s fortunes have been dwindling in Bihar, with the party now down to 19 seats. The key question is if this yatra help in the upcoming polls.

BJP's Manoj Tiwari defeats Kanhaiya Kumar by over 1 lakh votes in the North East Delhi Lok Sabha elections 2024

June 05, 2024 8:52 am

Manoj Tiwari vs Kanhaiya Kumar, North East Delhi Election Results 2024: Sitting MP Tiwari defeated Kumar by a margin of over 1,00,000 votes to retain the constituency for the third time.

Delhi News Highlights: Arvind Kejriwal's interim bail plea rejected in money laundering case

June 11, 2024 6:30 pm

Delhi News Highlights: While rejecting his interim bail plea in the PMLA case related to the excise policy, a city court sent him to judicial custody till June 19

Delhi Police arrest man who attacked Kanhaiya Kumar outside AAP office

May 21, 2024 7:56 pm

Kanhaiya Kumar, the Congress’s Northeast Delhi Lok Sabha seat candidate, has alleged that the attackers were supported by BJP’s Manoj Tiwari

Attackers supported by Manoj Tiwari: Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar; BJP MP’s office says claims baseless

May 19, 2024 7:08 am

Kanhaiya Kumar is going up against Tiwari, a two-time BJP MP from the constituency and the only one from the party to have been repeated as the candidate.

Manoj Tiwari carried out attack on me as people no longer accepting him: Kanhaiya Kumar

May 19, 2024 8:36 am

Kanhaiya Kumar's accusation against his BJP rival in the Lok Sabha elections came a day after he was allegedly assaulted and attacked with ink by some people.

KANHAIYA KUMAR PHOTOS

JNU row: Umar Khalid rusticated, Kanhaiya fined for pro-Afzal Guru event

April 25, 2016 9:03 pm

While Umar and Anirban were found guilty of triggering communal violence and disrupting communal harmony on campus, Mujeeb was found guilty of participating in the sloganeering.

Make In India week, JNU protests, Grammys: Here are top 30 frames of the week

February 20, 2016 8:00 am

Narendra Modi inaugurates Make In India. JNUSU Kanhaiya Kumar sent to 14-day judicial custody. 58th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

JNU students lead march for Kanhaiya Kumar's release, protest sedition law

February 19, 2016 2:43 pm

JNU students began their march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in protest against the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar and the ‘gagging of freedom of speech’ by the government.

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar sent to 14-day judicial custody

February 18, 2016 9:53 am

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, arrested on sedition charges, was allegedly beaten up by lawyers on Wednesday while he was being produced at Patiala House court.

JNU row: Protest, counter-protest continue in Delhi

February 15, 2016 6:52 pm

A scuffle broke out at the Patiala House court in New Delhi on Monday afternoon after a group of about 40 lawyers present inside the court started shouting anti-JNU slogans demanding that University faculty present inside the court leave.

KANHAIYA KUMAR VIDEOS

Lok Sabha Election 2024: Rahul Gandhi takes jibe at PM Modi, 'Our PM Says He Is Not Biological Like Us!'

May 24, 2024 1:12 pm

Lok Sabha Election 2024: Rahul Gandhi mentioned that Narendra Modi keeps distracting people with nonsensical comments whenever he is asked about his government's shortcomings.

Kanhaiya Kumar Speech At JNU Campus

March 09, 2016 10:44 am

Keystrokes: Kanhaiya

March 08, 2016 11:29 am

Kanhaiya sent to one-day remand: Delhi Police

February 26, 2016 9:40 am

New Delhi, Feb 26 (ANI) Rajan Bhagat, public relations officer of the Delhi Police, said Kanhaiya Kumar who has been booked on sedition charges, have been taken on one-day remand by the Delhi police for further investigation in the JNU unrest. He added that that Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who are also facing the charges of sedition, will be confronted on Friday for investigation. He further said necessary action must be taken against the accused.

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