For the hundreds of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) who were eagerly awaiting the return of students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar to campus, the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his bail plea Friday brought a few hours of despondency to an otherwise spirited fight. In a meeting held Friday night, the various student organisations decided that students would be mobilised for a solidarity march at Delhi University (DU) Saturday. After Thursday’s march at Jantar Mantar, the student community had high hopes that Kanhaiya would return to campus the next day. No events had been planned for Friday in anticipation of celebrations on Kumar’s return. Addressing a press conference, JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora, said, “We have just learnt that the SC has transferred Kanhaiya’s bail plea to the High Court. It is a little sad for the student community as everyone was expecting to see him back in the campus today, but hopefully he will come back on Monday. We are also concerned about his safety due to repeated attacks in the lower court.” Shora also condemned the attacks led by advocate Vikram Singh Chauhan and demanded that action be taken against him. “It is worrisome that innocent students are being put in jail while actual perpetrators of violence are being felicitated. We demand that action be taken against him,” she said, adding that the sedition law should be repealed. Lending support to students, journalist P Sainath, who is also an alumnus of JNU, said they should be “shocked but not surprised” at the events unfolding at the university. “You’re fighting against the criminalisation of dissent. Events in JNU and elsewhere may be shocking and repulsive but they are not surprising, because this is who they are. Today, we have an RSS pracharak with a majority as the prime minister, so they’re bringing out their inner selves,” he said. Sainath also expressed faith in the students’ ability to keep the momentum going. “I cannot tell you that it’s going to get better. It will get worse before it gets better. But I have enormous faith in the students of JNU. It is fantastic the way in which different ideologies have got together for this fight. Don’t let your guard down, don’t break your unity,” he said. Thanking JNU, Sainath said, “This university taught me to live for something beyond myself. It taught me that a career is not a resume and success is not a spreadsheet. While I’m with you always, don’t forget about the struggle in other campuses,” he added. Several cultural performances were also held throughout the day including a dastangoi performance on sedition, produced by filmmaker Anusha Rizvi of Peepli Live fame.
