Kanhaiya reaches JNU; celebrations on the campus

JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar reached the Jawaharlal Nehru University premises on Thursday hours after being released from Tihar jail where he was lodged on the charge of sedition, triggering celebrations on the campus that had lately become a venue for vociferous protests.

Students and teachers eagerly awaiting to catch a glimpse of Kanhaiya had gathered at the Ganga dhaba from where they will take out a victory march to the Administration Block which has become a venue of protest since his arrest on February 12. People also queued up outside Kumar’s hostel Brahmaputra with dhols and daflis to accompany him during the march. Meanwhile, two separate meetings of the students’ union and JNU teachers’ association were underway to decide the future course of action. Kanhaiya is expected to address the gathering after the march. However, the university administration maintained the report of the high-level committee has not been submitted to it yet.  “The five-member panel had a deadline till 12 am today (Thursday). The varsity will take a call based on the recommendations of the panel,” a senior JNU official said.

After Kanhaiya was granted interim bail on Wednesday by the Delhi High Court, celebrations had broken out outside Parliament Street Police Station where students had been camping. Shouting “victory” slogans for Kanhaiya, students later marched from Sabarmati dhaba, during the night hours.

Meanwhile, the festivals of Holi and Diwali together came in advance to the native village of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar in Bihar’s Begusarai with his family and villagers rejoicing the Delhi High Court order granting conditional bail to him. “We got much relief from tension and anxiety for the first time since the arrest of my son Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition,” Kanhaiya’s father Jaishankar Singh said. “Though he should have got a clean chit as no evidence of him indulging in anti-national activities has been found, still the courts have their own wisdom. We welcome the order of the Delhi High Court on Kanhaiya,” he said.