JNU row: 20 days after ‘azadi’ speech led to arrest, Kanhaiya returns to where it all began

WATCH VIDEO: Kanhaiya Kumar’s Speech At JNU Campus After Release

Many different forms of protest and solidarity could be found around this block. There was a caricature exhibition on the ongoing row, pledges of solidarity from across campuses in India and around the world, some cardboard boxes hung from trees near the steps of the block, and an entire wall of messages put up by students.

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Slogans like ‘To the jailed, with love’, ‘Long Live The Right to Dissent’ and a poster with ‘azadi’ scribbled on it in four different Indian languages, and in different colours, stood out between messages from Noam Chomsky and others. In a far cry from the heated student movement and sloganeering just hours before, the colourful signs of protest stood alone Thursday.

At Bramhaputra, Kanhaiya’s hostel in JNU, four posters on a board near the hostel were the only signs of the robust welcome his close friends were planning to give him hours later.

The “Welcome Com. Kanhaiya” posters termed his interim bail “a partial victory”, but said it was “nevertheless a tight slap … ” on opposing forces.

Kanhaiya’s room remained locked and lonely, barring stray students and journalists who ventured there as news of his return to the campus spread on Thursday evening.

It had been business as usual, said a guard at the hostel.

During the day, ABVP posters stating ‘Siachen ke shaheedon ko shat shat naman’ had been put up around the administration block, barely 100-150 metres from the caricatures put up in solidarity with the movement for Kumar’s release.

The block finally witnessed a protest Thursday afternoon, organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against the “targeting” and “witch-hunt” of its activists. The protesters claimed that their activists were being targeted by students and faculty members. The observations made by the Delhi High Court, while granting bail to Kumar, should serve as a “warning” to “anti-national” students, they said.

All this, till Kumar returned to the very steps where he had given his last speech on February 11, the day before his arrest, with his now-famous slogans “Hum kya chahein azaadi, manuvaad se azaadi, bhukmaari se azaadi, gareebi se azaadi, RSS se azaadi, ladke lenge azaadi”.

But this time, a Tricolour waved behind him.

Slogans of “Jail ke tale tute hain, comrade Kanhaiya choote hain” (The locks have been broken, comrade Kanhaiya is free) erupted as the crowds around the administration block swelled right up to the park opposite. Rama Naga and Anant Prakash Narain, JNU students named in the sedition case, joined Kumar.

“The way JNU has stood up to call the truth the truth and the false the false is worth a salute, and the best thing is it was spontaneous,” Kumar said addressing students

He told the crowd he would refrain from commenting on his case, which was sub judice, adding, “as a JNU student, I studied more and experienced less.”

Kumar went on, “This time I have come with primary data, my own experience,”

“The Prime Minister has tweeted Satyamev Jayate (the truth always prevails). Mr PM, I have political differences with you, but that is a statement I agree with,” he said, his statement greeted with loud cheers.

Taking a swipe at the ABVP protests in the administration block, JNUSU general secretary Rama Naga said, “People who were here at the pink palace earlier will be sad. They thought Kanhaiya will never come back to reclaim this space”.

On whether there was a deliberate attempt at exercising caution, given the conditions of Kumar’s bail, JNUSU leader Shehla Rashid said, “There is nothing that Kanhaiya or any of us will do which can be construed as anti-national or violating his bail conditions. Kanhaiya is the elected student representative of JNUSU and we believe he is well within his rights to address the students.”